Day 7 - Cruise Stop in Athens | Piraeus Port | Metro | Walking Tour | Kabobs | Desserts

Why Watch This Video -
1) If you want to see where the cruise ships docks in Athens and how to get to the city.
2) If you want some suggestions on where to go, what to see and what to eat

It's day 7 of our Greek Cruise on the the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas and it's our final stop in Greece - ATHENS.

On October 12th 2019 we board the Jewel of the Seas in Rome, Italy for 9 days of cursing around the Mediterranean. We stopped in Crete, Mykonos, Rhodes, Santorini and now Athens. Videos from all our stops can be found in the Greece Playlist linked here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1mpNcVPDzs&list=PLTd0Gr_TsYmQ-T43ROJFV3W34ikfItUZ5

There is one more stop to make, in the Pizza capital of the world Naples, and we will post that video shortly. But for now, we focus on Athens...

The Jewel of the Seas docked in Piraeus around 6am, and unlike other stops on this trip, there was no fan-fare or help from Royal Caribbean when we got off the ship on where to go or how to get to Athens. In fact, those of us who got off the ship at 6:30 were left a bit lost on how to even get out of the dock. Turns out we need to walk through the terminal building, (which looked closed) and toward the main street of the port. Once we exited the terminal building there were many taxi's offering guided tours of Athens, trips to the Acropolis and other places. But we heard about a bus to the metro station and that was our plan.

Unfortunately the bus from terminal B runs from May to early October, so by the time we got to Piraeus, there was no bus. With no wifi and no one to talk to for help, we decided to just walk, and ended up walking all the way to the Piraeus Train Station....which took 50 minutes.

From Piraeus to Monastiraki station took about 15 min. Monastiraki station leaves you in Monastiraki Square, which I am not sure if the geographic center of Athens but as Tourist, it's a great starting point for exploring The Plaka or the Agora or walking up to the Acropolis. From here you can see all parts of Athens and decide what you want to tackle.

So we walked east along Mitropoleos toward Syntagma for a 10am walking tour of Athens that included the relics in Syntagma Station, Greek Parliament, the Changing of the Guard, the National Garden, Zappeio Hall, the Temple of Zeus (6 Euro entrance fee), Hadrian's Arch and the Acropolis (20 Euro). We will cover the Acropolis in a separate video.

The entire walking tour was 3 1/2 hours. The tour continued to the Acropolis Museum but we opted not to do the Museum. The tour was around 35 euro and is good if you want the history and lore of Athens and the Acropolis but, there was nothing included that you could not see on your own.

After the Acropolis we wandered the streets of Plaka which are filled with shops, cafes and restaurants. We also recommend the Plaka Stairs for unique opportunities to enjoy a coffee or pastry. There are great souvenirs in Athens and we used the time to pick up Olive Oil, t-shirts and other great gifts.

For lunch we went to "O Thanasis" on Mitropoleos near Monastiraki. Some say they have the best kabobs in Athens and possibly Greece, and we can attest, that might be true. The Kabobs were excellent and worth the wait or challenges you might face when it comes to service there.

Before heading back to Piraeus we stopped at LUKUMADES which is an urban dessert place serving Greek Donuts topped with various confections and sweets, including Ice Cream. Highly recommend as a snack when in Athens.

That wrapped up about 8 hours overall in Athens. 2 hours for travel to and from Piraeus, 4 hours with the walking tour, 1 hour for lunch and 1 hour for our own exploring. It was a LONG day....

Видео Day 7 - Cruise Stop in Athens | Piraeus Port | Metro | Walking Tour | Kabobs | Desserts канала Sierra Travel