Athens

Piraeus (Athens) is the last port of call of our Mediterranean cruise. Today we leave the ship and travel to the center of Athens, where we have booked a hotel for one night, which gives us the opportunity to see some highligts of Athens. Pictures of them are shown below.

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What you can see on the picture below is the Library of Hadrian. It's located to the north side of the Acropolis and the Roman Agora and provided the people of Athens with a new, multi-purpose, public square and cultural center that contained a garden, works of art, a library, and lecture halls.

When you walk through Athens, you can't miss the numerous historical places and sites which are located everywhere in the city.

On our way to the Acropolis, the highest point of Athens.

This is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, an open air theater with a capacity of 5,000 people. It's located on the Acropolis near the Parthenon.

From the Acropolis you have a magnificent view over Athens.

There she is: the Parthenon. It's the largest temple of the Acropolis. Its construction began in 447 BC and was completed in 438 BC. It measures 228 by 101 ft (70 by 31 m).

The Parthenon was especially built for the Greek goddess Athena.

This is the Propylaia. It was built as an entrance to the Acropolis rock. As you can see it's being partially reconstructed, to ensure structural stability.

These are caryatids. A caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar.

Some pieces are being reconstructed.

Some details at a corner of the Parthenon.

From the Acropolis you have a nice view on the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

This is the Theater of Dionysus. It's one of the oldest theaters in the world. It was built in the year 500 BC. In this theater plays were performed at festivals in honour of the god Dionysus

The Erechtheum, or Erechtheion, an ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis.

Most of the renovation and reconstruction work is handwork.

Here you can see the columns were made of nicely fitted parts.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus.

It's also known as the Olympieion. It's a colossal temple in the centre of Athens that was dedicated to Zeus, king of the Olympian gods.

Part of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

We're at the Panathenian Stadium. It was originally built in ca. 566 BC and rebuilt in marble in 329 BC. It was renovated and refurbished several times, for the Olympic Games in 1896 and again for the 2004 Olympic Games.

Every Olympic Games event is engraved in these marble stones.

While walking back to our hotel, we notices these parts of ancient times. Athens can be seen as one major museum. This concludes our cruise and our visit to the Mediterranean area. On the next page we'll take you back to the "Rotterdam" where you can see the ship's details at the outside and inside.