Athens -- My Big Fat Greek Haircut

Hi everybody; it’s Michael again. I was the lucky one to get escort duty on a tour to the Acropolis and to the new Acropolis museum (opened just last June). We actually started in the Port of Piraeus, a beautiful and very upscale suburb of Athens. Piraeus is to Athens as Beverly Hills is to Los Angeles. At its center is the Marina Zea with hundreds of yachts, none less than 75 feet and some up to 250 feet. It is surrounded by cafes and beautiful homes and condos. Amazing how they can run these yachts, not to mention cars, as gas here is about $8.00 US per gallon.

As we motored into Athens we could begin to see the results of the economic downturn. Many shuttered shops, and (according to our guide) less traffic than normal as so many people are out of work, or at least cannot afford the gas for their cars. We drove by Athens stadium, home to the Olympics for hundreds of year; the Parliament where they have the changing of the guards (which we did not see); the Bank of Greece; Athens University; and the European Parliament building that was the site of last month’s deadly shootings by protestors against the current economic situation. I have a picture of a bullet riddled guard house.

The high point of this tour was, of course, the Acropolis, which is literally “the highest point” in Greece. After 35 years, It is still undergoing major restoration. We were last here about 16 years ago, and I think all they did was move some of the scaffolding. It is awesome though and truly the soul of Greece, or the “Ethos” as they call it. The original structures built here were begun in 800 BC, and of those virtually nothing remains. It was rebuilt in 600 BC and then promptly destroyed by the Persians (you know, our old friends the Iranians). The current structures, built almost entirely out of marble, date back to about 500 BC, and it looks it. Actually, the restoration is almost complete and you can now clearly imagine what had been here.

Many of the original antiquities have been moved to the Acropolis Museum. To protect these priceless artifacts, they have now moved them to a controlled environment, and this is one of the most beautiful museums I have ever seen. When they began excavating the land to lay the foundation for the museum, they found lots more antiquities, so the entire ground floor of the Museum is made out of glass so as you walk you can look down and see the excavation and all that they found. They decided to follow this theme and the second and third floor are also glass, and so I am told the local ladies all know better than to wear dresses in this place!

The tour concluded with the requisite and totally unnecessary and unwelcome (to most) shopping stop and then back to the ship, where we get to meet all new people today. I found Beverly, and after a quick lunch, we left the ship to explore Piraeus on foot. We had some errands to do, most important of which was to get me a haircut, and boy did I get one; probably the best haircut I ever had, and at 18 Euros it was a bargain. It included a shampoo with wonderful scalp massage, the haircut, the trim by the assistant and then another wash and scalp massage. I didn’t want to get up after that last massage. I think I may move here! Well, now back to Beverly …

Poor little ole’ me didn’t score an excursion. I had a rough morning trying to find something for breakfast as all the regular places were closed by the time I finished uploading photos and getting dressed. It was really weird being on the ship with so few people. Today is the transition day; last night we had to say goodbye to our friends and today welcome the new people.

My reading glasses have been giving me a fit. The right lens keeps falling out and we don’t have the correct tools to fix it. As luck would have it, we found an optical shop by accident as all the store signage was in Greek. I have to say it – it was all Greek to me! The owner did not speak English, but her young daughter spoke a little bit. Between the daughter translating and the obvious broken glasses, she fixed the problem and refused to take any money. She is the one who recommended the salon where Michael got his haircut.

I tried to get a pedicure at the same shop where Michael got his haircut, but most businesses close at 3pm on Wednesdays and we arrived at 2:55pm. After seeing the great cut Michael received, I really wish I had the time to get a haircut, too. I found another open beauty shop and asked to get a pedicure. Sure, no problem. Just wait 20 minutes. After 45 minutes and nothing happening, I got fed up and left. It seems the Greeks have a different concept of time than I do.

We are off to Mykonos.