Exploring Athens on the Empires of the Mediterranean Cruise

In May of 2019 we arrived in Greece for the start of our Viking Cruise from Athens to Venice known as Empires of the Mediterranean. I’ve writing one article for each day of the cruise – this is the first one describing our pre-cruise visit to Athens.

Incidentally, we cruised with Viking for several years before I realized I was missing out on a discount. You can read more about that discount here.

May of 2019 was still in the good old days before the virus hit the world and so we had booked our own travel arrangements using Turkish Airlines from Washington DC to Athens and then back from Venice to Washington. We arrived several days before the start of the cruise, staying locally in the Wyndham Grand hotel, and had chosen to book tours via WithLocals, which turned out to be a great way to see the city and at least part of the country. Our first outing was with Alexandros and his Acropolis Skip the Line & Hidden Gems Tour. This was a half day walking tour of central Athens and cost 108 Euros for the two of us. We strolled through the Plaka district with Alexandros filling us in on the history of Athens and this part of Greece as he pointed out the landmarks in this ancient city.

Then we were on our way to the Acropolis. We seemed to bypass the main queues and Alexandros explained the history of these ruins as we walked around. The weather was not great that afternoon (which might be good as I think it could have been pretty hot climbing those steps to the entrance) and so I created this black and white view of one of the hills on which Athens was originally built, Lycabettus Hill:

After the walk back into the city, we wandered around Plaka again seeing the Acropolis rising above the old buildings of the city before returning to our hotel.

The next day was a full day tour by car with Vassilis and his “Fantastic Private Day Trip to Peloponnese” priced at 218 Euros. Vassilis picked us up at the hotel and drove first to the Corinth Canal, which was first started in the 7th Century BC, had multiple attempts, including one by the emperor Nero with 6000 prisoners of war doing the actual digging. It wasn’t until 1893 that it was finally completed, although it is too narrow for any significant shipping and is mostly a tourist attraction now:

I explained that I was a keen photographer and so along the way, we adjusted our itinerary to walk round the ancient palace at Tiryns before visiting the massive amphitheater at Epidaurus.

This ancient theatre of Epidaurus was built in the 4th Century BC and held around 14,000 spectators who visited for games, plays, music and singing. The site is surrounded by the remains of the old city which is slowly being restored. Being far from the main tourist areas, this had few visitors, and we could stroll at leisure around the large site, meeting our guide when we were finished.

Onwards then to the port of Napflio, seen here from the old walls and fortress above the city:

The walls are unusual in being surrounded by cactus plants, another form of defense in those early days!

We strolled through the old streets, taking in the history and architecture, and finally ended up on the broad waterfront:

The day continued with a drive back to Athens and a few overlooks on the way:

Unfortunately, no time to stop here, but it does look a great place for a meal at sunset! However, the view from our own hotel in Athens didn’t disappoint:

We had explained to Vassilis that we had to make our way to the Viking ship the next day, and he offered to both drive us to the port of Piraeus, but also see more of the city along the way – a perfect solution to the issue of how to get all our luggage to the port. So, the next day we drove to the top of the Lycabettus hill to get a view of the city and, somewhere in the distance, our cruise ship!

I had wanted to get some better views of the Acropolis and had done my own research that a view from the summit of the Filopappou hill should look good! This was a new location for Vassilis, but he gamely took us through the downtown area, stopping at the busy street for a few pictures of the Greek Library:

Then on to a path that should lead to the top of my chosen hill – and it did!

And a broader panorama of the city of Athens from the Filopappou hill before he drove us to Piraeus, and we boarded our ship:

With all this travel, you would think we had seen all there was to see, but the next day we were off on the Viking tour of Athens – one of the included tours on the cruise. After the coach trip back into Athens, we were left to wander at will and we chose the Plaka and Anafiotika districts that are both very close to the Acropolis. These are perfect for just strolling down narrow paths and staircases just getting a feel for the place:

This last one I turned into an oil painting which I thought nicely illustrated the feeling of this ancient district of Greece:

There was still time for us to explore the Roman and Greek Agoras in Athens and so more footwork down these narrow streets:

I’m sure we must have stopped for lunch somewhere, but we were off again to visit the new and the old Metropolitan cathedrals – this is the interior of the Little Metropolis church:

Then back on the coach to Piraeus. But wait, what about Piraeus itself. My wife decided not to tackle this walk, but the Greek Orthodox church was relatively close to the cruise terminal and was a beautiful sight to see:

And with a speedy walk back to the ship, I was finally on board and ready to depart for the Empires of the Mediterranean cruise!

The evening was perfectly clear and so after dinner, I could not resist setting up my camera on the balcony for one more picture before bed. The Viking Star sailing away from a perfect moonrise:

The next port of call on this Viking Empires of the Mediterranean cruise is the beautiful island of Santorini. Did it turn out to be as expected – read the next installment here!

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