Cruise Part II: It's all Greek in Corfu and Athens

We finally made it to Greece!

Corfu

Our first stop in Greece was an island in the Ionian sea, Corfu. The main city on the island which is where we docked is actually also named Corfu. It has two castles in it; one in the old town and one called the New Fortress.

We spent the day off the boat wandering through the streets, shopping and exploring. While a lot of the city was not what you would call "picturesque," in fact, I would say the majority felt run-down, some spots were more beautiful than others. Once you hit the coastline, the views were serene. And I should say that we did not see all that the island had to offer. We didn't even see all of the city. But this stop is probably where we saw the troubled Greek economy coming through the most.

My Uncle Mark was actually in Athens two years ago and he thought the city looked a bit run-down then. We didn't get that from our visit and he actually said it looked a lot more prosperous this time, but that may have been because we only had one day there. Regardless, this brings me to our next stop...

Athens

In 8th grade, we each picked a god or goddess that we had to do a huge report on. Since that semester, I've loved Greek mythology. I choose Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, who the Parthenon was dedicated to and Athens is also named for.

The port that we docked into was actually Piraeus, which is 7 miles from Athens. It's actually the largest passenger port in Europe and third largest in the world (fun fact for Jeopardy). At this stop, we had a shore excursion booked, so after getting off the ship, we got into a bus which drove us to the Acropolis.

Funny enough, most people think that the Acropolis is different from the Parthenon. But the Parthenon is a temple on the Acropolis. The word Acropolis actually means "highest (ackros) point in the city (polis)".

There is evidence that people inhabited the spot in 450 BC. But the Acropolis as we know it (with Parthenon) first began in the 5th century BC. The site consists of the Parthenon, Erechtheum, Propylaea (gate) and Theatre of Dionysus (God for wine and theater).

Our guide actually argued that the Erechtheum was more important than the Parthenon because it was built for and housed the remains of Athen's legendary king, Erechtheus. It also has sacred meaning for how Athens was named. The Greek myth goes that when the people were deciding who to name the city after, they narrowed it down to Athena and Poseidon (God of the sea and water). They asked Poseidon what he could do for the city, and he threw down his trident and salt water sprouted from the ground. They asked Athena what she could do, and she planted an olive tree to symbolize peace and prosperity (olive trees are one of her symbols she is associated with). The people decided that the olive tree was more useful than the salt water and so Athena won the battle. Today, there is a hole in the ceiling of the Erechtheum (attributed to be from Poseidon's trident) and an olive tree next to it (Athena's offering). You can see it in my pictures on the right and below.

The Parthenon is the most well-known structure in Athens. It is a former temple that housed a huge statue of Athena. During the Ottoman conquest (1460s), it was turned into a mosque. At this time, they decided to store their gunpowder within the Parthenon because nobody would dare to blow it up, right? Wrong. In the 1687, the Venetians ignited it and the explosion destroyed much of the structure and statues inside. Some of the statues were salvaged, but most of what you see today is rebuilt. And actually some of the original statues are now in other museums around the world (like the British Museum). Greece has been trying to get these back but the countries won't budge... cue the awkwardness.

Now that the history lesson is done, I'll tell you about our experience. The Acropolis was just as impressive and spectacular as I had in my mind. We were dropped off just down the hill, and then you have to walk up quite a ways to enter through the Propylaea (gate). You first pass the theatre, then come to the top where the Parthenon and Erechtheum are. The views from the top are spectacular, and you can even see the Areopagus, the huge rock where Paul the Apostle delivered his famous speech about Christianity.

For being once destroyed structures, everything is in pretty good shape. They've been restoring it all and have used original stone as well as newer stone to rebuild the structures. The Erechtheum's restoration is complete, but the Parthenon will likely not be complete until 2020. The Greeks took about 9 years to build it, but it has already taken over 30 years to restore it because it is basically one massive jigsaw puzzle!

After learning the history and seeing the Acropolis, we headed back down the hill to the nearby museum that houses the original statues from the Acropolis. Rather than risk their deterioration by natural elements, the structures sit comfortably inside the museum and mock ups of the originals are actually reconstructed on the Parthenon, Erechtheum, etc.

Once we toured the museum, we headed to the first Olympic stadium for quick photos. Then onto the Plaka, Athen's street / flea market. We grabbed some delicious gyros and greek salad (yum!) and shopped until it was time to leave.

And as Aaron sang in karaoke on the boat, "I'm sailing away..." More on our trip to be continued!