Day 3: Piraeus - Meh.

Today started a bit rough with me accidentally sleeping in until 10 am, and waking up with a slight hangover.  The kid of course felt fine.  I miss those days.  One of the reasons I don't drink as much as I used to.  That, and I'm trying to avoid turning into an alcoholic.

Our plan for the day was to make our way to Piraeus.  A quick Google search (too quick, as we'd later find), told us there was a good full day of things to experience in the centre of the Mediterranean's largest port.  The main attraction would be the Hellenic Maritime Museum, highlighting the rich Athenian naval history.  A couple other museums would help round out the day before we found ourselves at a seafood restaurant for dinner.  Well, you know what they say about best-laid plans?

So, I dragged myself out of bed, disappointed in my lateness, and we headed out for breakfast before attempting to find our way to the port of Athens via subway.  We sat down at a table 120 feet from the station entrance and each enjoyed a cheese pie and Omelette.  Not realizing how large the cheese pie was, I was unable to finish both the pie and the omelette.  Jes didn't have that issue.  The cheese pie was delicious and I'm looking forward to another before our trip home.

Once full, we made our way down to the station and tried to figure things out on our own, but eventually submitted to approaching the information window for help on getting to our destination.  The only word exchanged between myself and the booth host was me saying "Piraeus?", and she grabbed a scrap piece of paper and wrote clear-enough instructions for us to find our way.  We purchased our tickets and headed down to hop on the Red line from Acropolis to Syntagma where we'd transfer to the Blue line all the way to our destination.  Athens subway system is much easier than Tokyo's, but simply because it's designed to only serve a 10th of the population.

We arrived in Piraeus and started to google for directions to the Hellenic Maritime Museum where we'd also get to experience a submarine exhibit.  This is where I realized that my previous search of the area may have been in haste as I missed the fact that the museum was closed on Mondays.  Great.  So now what?  Well, like I said, there were a couple other attractions that would ensure our trip wasn't wasted...right?  So we proceded on our 25 minute walk to the Piraeus Archeological Museum to check out what they had to offer.  This wasn't a loss as it did have some exhibits we hadn't yet encountered at other sites we'd already seen, but it was small and didn't take us long to get through it.  One notable feature was the presentation of ancient instruments found on the grounds and a reproduction of what those instruments would've sounded like.  

Next, in my "fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants" nature, I consulted my trusty friend Google for recommendations on where to go next.  The "floating museum" peaked my interest and we decided it would be worth the 40 minute walk to explore.  On our way, we'd stop for some iced coffees and well-deserved break from the scorching heat, all the while throwing out the only five Greek words I'd come to learn, as often as I could.  "Effcharisto" meaning Thank you, "Parakalo" meaning both You're welcome AND Please (I don't know how that works, but it does, so I just go with it), and "Yah soo" or simply "Yah" meaning Hello.  I had my most fun using the word "O hyee" (not sure how to spell that as I don't know which English letters to put together to reproduce the actual sound of the word, which isn't quite as I've written it.  Anyway, it means "No" and I had to practically yell it to an overzealous street merchant to leave us alone while enjoying our iced coffees.

We continued our treck to the floating museum (which is simply an old retired ship), which would take us through the actual port and around some shady industrial parts of the port.  As we got closer and closer, according to google maps, the scenery got sketchier and sketchier.  I could almost feel Jes starting to get worried.  I, on the other hand seem to thrive on the adventure alone.  The sketchier the better.  As Jes was telling me Google had likely made a mistake, I spotted a sign "Museum SS Hellas".  Still looks sketchy. We walk through the opening in the fence to see the SS Hellas docked with a set of old rickety stairs up to the deck.  No other signs that this is actually open to the public.  I go to the stairs which aren't blocked off and start to climb as Jes is thinking we're definitely going to Jail.  Better to ask for forgiveness than permission if you ask me.

Well, we both made it aboard and were quickly relieved when we entered the first room to our left to find the first of many exhibited rooms on the ship.  It was a pretty cool "museum" in its own right, and definitely saved the day's trip here... I'm just not sure that on its own, it was actually worth the trip.  We decided to make our way back via subway to the Acropolis station to find a place to eat, rather then stay in Piraeus any longer.

Three days in Greece and my craving for Gyros on a Pita was growing.  We found a nice place right outside the station and both ordered Lamb Gyros and a large Beer.  Although, this could have been our undoing, we had one more stop for the day, and we both refused to skip it.  

From our seats we got up and started the 15 minute-or-so trek to the Panathenaic Stadium; site of the very first modern Olympic Games in 1896.  The original stadium was actually built over 2500 years ago, but was ignored for centuries and became derelict.  It wasn't until the Olympic Games were planned around 1894 that the currently standing stadium was built over top the existing remnants for the upcoming games.  They were in such a rush actually, that they couldn't complete the entire stadium in marble as planned, and to make sure it would be ready, they finished some sections of the seating in wood and covered them with white cushions to blend in with the marble.  Immediately following the games, work concluded to replace the temporary wood seating with marble.  Our ticket price of 10 euros included an audio tour which was handy, but the batteries in my handset died before the end.  It was quite the feeling to stand where so many competed for title of best in the world almost 130 years ago, and where thousands more competed in the two millenia before them.  Before heading back, I'd have to take a quick bio break and was shocked to find that it would cost me no less than one euro.  Apparently, if you gotta pee, you gotta pay.

We decided to call it a day by 7pm and over 17,000 steps... A far cry from yesterday's 24,000 but still a long day.  We stopped at a market steps from our apartment for more beers and snacks, and now find ourselves chilling on the balcony in full view, yet again of the Parthenon at the Acropolis, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and Mount Lycabettus.  Really couldn't ask for a better location.

This will be our last night in Athens, as we move on tomorrow to the Island of Crete via a 55 minute flight.  Looking forward to experiencing another side of this beautiful country.

But for now... Goodnight!