I have been to.... Athens

 Now that we are able to cruise again, we went off on a jaunt around the Med. This actual cruise was booked in 2019 and was supposed to be going to the Black Sea. It was endlessly postponed due to covid, and when we were finally ready to go again, Putin invaded Ukraine and the Black Sea was off for good. 

This one also went to an exciting part of the world, but not quite as exciting as trying to dock in Odessa at the moment.

First stop Athens, where we were picking up the ship. I've not been to Athens since 1981, and my wife has never been, so we spent a few days there.

Obviously, lots of Roman and Greek historical stuff, so here are a few highlights.

Nice view from our hotel roof! The weather was rather better in Greece in November than back home.

The old city centre is just rammed with ancient buildings. I'm afraid I can't remember what this is.

Or this. Hadrians Library perhaps? Amusing there is a Metro line running under one end of the buidling.

As it was well out of season, most of the sites were deserted.

Not sure about leaving these mosaics out in the blazing sun.

Not so the Parthenon, which was a human tide of coach tours. Coming up from the entrance. 

The Odeon beneath the rock face is just stunning.

From this angle it doesn't look too bad. There is a lot of restoration work going on but this view hides a lot of the cranes and scaffolding. I do have a very ancient photo from 1981 of me sitting on these very rocks. Almost deserted then of course.

Lots of other smaller temples around the site. It is very barren on the summit without a scrap of shade, and even in November it was uncomfortably hot and dusty, I hate to think what it is like in summer.

Great views across the city of course. Mount Olympus is too far away to see from here but we flew past it on the way in, rearing up above the haze.

Off to the Parthenon Museum. This is a reconstruction of one of the friezes from the end of the main temple. The statues were largely defaced or destroyed by zealous Christians in later centuries.

A love Greek vases. Mounted slingers(?)

And a fine Hoplite. Some of my figures have that very shield design.

These are the remains of some of the actual frieze statues.

The lesser friezes stretch right around the museum in a display which matches the dimensions of the original. It is very impressive and well worth a visit to the museum.

Sorry, can't remember who this is. I usually photograph the statue caption.

A nice relief of a four horse chariot.

And another chariot.

A section of a carving of a Trireme with the rest filled in on the plate behind.

This is a fabulous 3D model of the ancient city showing the main fortress on the acropolis and the city walls.

'Portrait of a Philosopher'

Bronze armour and weapons. The bronze sword is absolutely tiny, I think I'd struggle to get my fingers on the grip.

Many of the bronze statues were in far better shape. Athena being warlike.

This owl will be very familiar to fans of Ray Harryhausen films. 

Agrippina. There are many statues of her and all look similar.

Hadrians Arch, just plonked next to a very busy highway.

I did manage to get one shot of a ceremonial guardsman.

Lord Byron.

After a couple of days, we set sail, and left Athens at dusk. Although there were a number of warships in the harbour I didn't take any photos as I didn't want to end up like the British plane spotters and tried for espionage.

The next morning we passed Crete en route for the next destination (very handy as I got a decent phone signal). Where to next?