Day 29 - Athens: Corinth Canal and ruins

Last day in Athens!!  Lucky Ramesh scored a trip to Corinth Canal before we had to head to the airport.

up bright and early on our last day in Greece, to get to the canal before our flight home

The Corinth Canal, carrying ship traffic between the western Mediterranean Sea and the Aegean Sea, is about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of the city, cutting through the Isthmus of Corinth that connects the Peloponnesian peninsula to the Greek mainland, thus effectively making the former an island. The builders dug the canal through the Isthmus at sea level; no locks are employed. It is 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) in length and only 21.3 metres (70 ft) wide at its base, making it impassable for most modern ships. It now has little economic importance.

The Temple of Apollo at Corinth 

Jackson was so happy to stop at the PLAYGROUND!!

Acrocorinth

 

The canal at sea level...so beautiful!

Farewell Greece!!

Day 28 - Athens: Hop on Bus tour

As I mentioned previously, we got free hop on bus tickets with the purchase of the cruise tickets.

We spent this day hopping off and on the bus to explore the city.  We avoided the cruise ship and class trip throngs by starting early.

Our first stop was the Acropolis, and we used Rick Steves' audio guide on Ramesh's phone.  The phone was attached to his 'selfie-stick', and we could both hear the details.

Theatre of Dionysus

Next up: The Propylaea

The Entrance Gate

 The Parthenon

Temple of Erechtheion

Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens

Arch of Hadrian (Athens)

At the end of the day, we found ourselves at the Panathenaic Stadium

When Jackson is an Olympic athlete, remember that he got his start at

the first Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece!

We met up with Auntie A, and went out for Indian food this night.  Auntie A and I were satisfied with our meals...Ramesh was not pleased with his.

Day 27 - Athens: Olympic Cruise - Hydros, Poros, Aegina islands

Our 2nd day in Athens was spent with Olympic Cruises.  We got a nice deal with discounted cruise tickets and free red cititour bus tickets.  

We paid 15 euro extra (each way) for pick up and drop off from Auntie A's house in the burbs.  (free pick up from city hotels)

Pickup was 6:50am.  Boarding the ship was fast and painless.  We ordered one breakfast on the ship, and split it between the 3 of us.  It was plenty.  Everyone else seemed to have packed breakfasts from their hotel.  Have a Mimosa or Bloody Mary, kick back, and relax.  

We camped out on the lower deck.  The exit door was closed most of the time, so we felt comfortable with Jackson here.  The upper decks were a little more open, and I would have worried more about having a toddler running around.

We toured Hydra, Poros, and Aegina islands...all in one day!

coffee and juice included with breakfast

First stop - Hydra Island

Breakfast!

Donkey are the only way of transportation on the island...no cars!

Next up was Poros.  We only stopped for 50 minutes.  Just enough time to roam into a few of the open shops, Ramesh climbed the stairs to the clock tower, and then we were back on board.

A little treat we picked up in the shops

Last stop was Aegina Island.  Famed for its pistachios

Another temple!  

Temple of Aphaea

(and afterwards we enjoyed some pistachio ice cream - YUM!)  

The Monastery

We grabbed some pistachios before getting back on the ship, to share with the co-workers who were holding down the fort at home, 

Back in our Athens home, with our newest friend.

We had lunch on the ship, and went out for Italian dinner this night.

Day 26 - Athens: Walking Food Tour and Cape Sounion

We had an early morning flight into Athens.  'Auntie A' was gracious enough to meet us at the airport (to take our luggage) and drop us off near the metro to get to the meeting point for our walking tour.

We had signed up for a food tasting walking tour, and a side trip out to Cape Sounion.  WARNING:  We walked through the meat market and fish market...graphic pictures follow.  (be thankful you're not smelling the smells while looking at the photos!)

Lucky for us, Starbucks was right next door to the meeting place for the walking tour, and we were 15 minutes early!  After checking in with the guide, we grabbed our Mocha Frappuccino and several bags of coffee beans  (and a Greece coffee mug!)   We were a little too excited after stumbling upon this find!

lovely orange trees all over Athens  

(and several options for bathroom breaks during the tour)

Loukoumades:  One of the Greek food items on our food walking tour.  Lighter than a donut, and soaked in honey

Fresh rabbit.  You can tell it is fresh, because the tails are still on!!

Animal guts

A cow head

fresh seafood

sardines

 crabs

fresh veggies

snails, anyone?

check out the size of these cinnamon sticks!!

Athens is covered in graffiti

more food on the tour:  

Spanakopita - cheese and spinach pie

More graffiti

Last stop - Gyros!  Yum!

What the heck??  A Royal Enfield bike in Athens!!

Another surprise!!  After the walking tour, we were just roaming around and bumped into this gem!

Picked up T-shirts for the grandkids, and a pin for Josh.  

After we poked around a bit, we took a taxi to Auntie A's house.  The taxi dropped us off at the wrong house, and it took us a bit to realize it - we had never been there before!  After introducing ourselves to the dog, we rested up a bit and then headed out to Cape Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon!  

Cape Sounion is noted as the site of ruins of an ancient Greek temple of Poseidon, the god of the sea in classical mythology. The remains are perched on the headland, surrounded on three sides by the sea. 

Our goal was to visit the temple and watch the sunset at a romantic (as romantic as it gets with a 2 year old) dinner near the temple.  Unfortunately, we arrived 10 minutes before the sunset, and the site closed at sunset.  We still had to pay the full 4 euro entrance fee.  We ran around and snapped a bunch of photos in the freezing wind, jumped back into the car, and headed to an empty 'tourist trap' restaurant...where our guide obviously received compensation.  The sea bass was 77 euros...and it was one of the items he recommended to us.  We ordered something much less expensive and got the heck out of there.  Back to A's house for a nice relaxing evening chatting and catching up.