Goodbye to Greece

Thursday June 8, 13th and last full day with our Rick Steve’s tour in Greece.  

We started the day by leaving the beautiful island of Hydra on a hydrofoil boat on our 2 hour trip to the port of Athens - Piraeus.  We all might look a bit tired in the pictures because this was the earliest day we all had to get up and get going, breakfast was at 630, and we left the hotel at 7:00.  

When we arrived in Piraeus, we all loaded into a bus to go see our last museum, Athens National Archeological Museum.  This was built in 1837 and had a lot of great pieces from many archeological sites.   We liked our guide Mama Faye and a lot of the pieces were super cool!   Too bad we were all a little tired and the museum was super crowded, it took away from the experience a bit.

After that we had a free afternoon to do what we wanted.  Christine and I went to pick up a gift she was having engraved, that she bought before we left Athens. We did some shopping, stopped at a cafe to have an aperol spritz!

Finally, we had our last dinner with our tour group.  Our tour guide surprised us with a beautiful necklace that she designed herself and had a friend make for each of us.  

We were very lucky to have had the opportunity to be on this Rick Steve’s best of Greece tour!  Everyone including our tour members, our guide and the Greek people were great!    

Mary

Typical look of our walks from the hotels to the bus or boat.  We often walked 10-15 minutes, up cobblestone “roads”.

Christine and tour members waving goodbye to Hydra.

Hydrofoil boat that took us back to the port of Athens.

The inside of the boat was more comfy and roomy than an airplane.  Christine is in the background, we didn’t sit together so that another couple could. 

These were soldiers parading through the National Gardens as we took our final bus ride/tour through Athens. 

The next eight pictures are from the Athens National Archaeological Museum.

The Thinker - Neolithic period (4500-3300 BC) found in Mycenae.  

Pig shape vase, from Troy.  3300-2000bc

Gold sheets found in graves covering the bodies 15th-14th century bc found in Mycenae. 

One of the oldest depictions of mother and child. Almost 6000BC.

I loved the faces on the pottery both in the picture above and below.  This one is 12th century BC from Mycenae.

1300bc chariot and rider from Mycenae. 

Museum courtyard.  Forgive if we look tired, we got up earlier than normal. 

Circa 140BC. Bronze statue of a horse and young jockey.

Retrieved in pieces from the shipwreck off Cape Artemision in Euboea.

More fun graffiti in Athens.  This is on the corner near our hotel.  It is one way we know we are on the right street . 

Christine and I at our tour group last night dinner in Athens. 

This is the necklace that our guide Dafni gave to us. The eye in the middle is seen all around the country on all kinds of things, mostly clothing and jewelry.  The eye is supposed to stop the transmission of negative energy from one person to another. 

Heather, Kathy, Christine and I had a great lunch right before we flew out of Athens in a cute neighborhood that was out of the tourist area!