July 17 2014 Athens

July 17 2014

Today we arrived in Piraeus (Athens) at 7:15 a.m.  We had a tour scheduled for 8:00 in the morning, so we were all up early to get going for the day.

We were scheduled on a private tour that Michael had arranged and first we were going to go one hour south to Corinth.  We arrived and drove all the way up to the Acrocorinth which is a fortress at the top of the mountain which had a beautiful view of the valley and the sea.  Ity was a fortified citadel of ancient and medieval Corinth and was the most important fortification work in the area from antiquity until the Greek War of Independence in 1821.  It held out attacks of the Barbarians. 

 

 

Olaf and Linda checked out the Greece flag that flies at the castle.

After exploring the fortress, we proceeded to the Ancient Corinth Archaeological Site and Museum.  In the museum there were many artifacts including a mosaic floor that was from the 2^nd – 3^rd century AD.

The Corinth Museum was robbed in April 1990.  There were 285 ancient objects stolen by thieves.  It was the largest theft of a Greek Museum.  After several years of investigation, in September 1999 the Department of Antiquity Thefts organized a trip to the United States.  In conjunction with the FBI, a warehouse in Miami, Florida was raided and 266 objects were recovered and returned to Greece.  There was a father and two sons who were accused of stealing the objects.  The two sons were arrested and found guilty in court and are now in prison in Greece.  The father has never been apprehended.  Those 266 objects are now back on display in the museum.  Just a few of the items are in the picture below.

Outside in the ruins is the Bema.  The Bema was a place for public ceremonies.  When the Apostle Paul taught about Christianity he spoke from this area.  Michael is re-enacting the Apostle Paul.

Olaf found a nice place in the shade since it was so hot outside.

We toured the grounds of the ruins and learned a lot about the history of the people of Corinth.

 The city of ancient Corinth grew up on the northern slopes of the hill of Akrokorinthos which acted as the fortified citadel of the ancient and medieval cities.  The site was occupied continuously from the Neolithic period to the Middle Ages. 

The Apostle Paul arrived in Corinth by the sea and this is where he came in and the ruins that are still at the shore of the ocean. It was called the Port of Lyceum.

We then went to the Isthma Canal.  This Canal was built to save boats from going over 200 miles around the southernmost point of the country.  The canal is about  5 miles long.  The interesting thing is the bridge retracts down into the water when a boat is coming through and then once the boat comes through the bridge rises out of the water to become the road again

We ate lunch at a lovely restaurant right along the canal.  Olaf and Duffy enjoyed the refreshing air and the view of the canal from the restaurant.

We then worked our way back to Athens to the Acropolis to tour the grounds and to see the Parthenon.

From the Acropolis you can see the Temple of Zeus below in the city.

The amphitheater is still used in the summer for concerts.

After we finished our tour of the Acropolis it was time to return to the ship since it was after 5 p.m.   

We returned to the port and used some free internet inside the terminal before getting on the ship

George, Kathy, Michael and I met up on Deck 9 near The Cove and finished our card game from the previous day.  We sailed away from Piraeus (Athens), Greece at 6:45 p.m.  It was a beautiful view as we sailed down the coastline of Greece.  Again, a nice sunset from the ship.

Dinner was in Animator’s Palate and we had the show dinner and Mickey came out at the end to dance his way through Animator’s.

By then it was after 11 p.m. so we all decided to call it a night since we have another early morning tomorrow in Kusadasi, Greece.

Goodnight from the Disney Magic!