Day 11 – Athens, Greece (May 24, 2023)
We had breakfast in Luminae again and this time, I tried the Eggs in Purgatory which were quail eggs served on top of a San Marzano tomato and red pepper “stew” with sourdough toast. This became my favorite breakfast.
We met up with Chrysanthi at the terminal who took us to the Acropolis. She explained a ton of Greek history to us. The Acropolis had changed a lot since the first time we visited. We climbed the steps up to the ruins (I think Tim was having PTSD flashbacks to Santorini) past the Odeon theater and I was relieved to see that they had paved the pathways at the top. One thing I vividly remember from 15 years ago was how treacherous and slippery the marble was having been finely polished to a shine by the hundreds of thousands of tourists they have every year. The Parthenon was still covered by scaffolding which, Chrysanthi said is now permanent. There was still a lot of restoration and excavation going on. The day was beautiful but just a smidge hot in the sun. We walked from the Acropolis down past another theater and ancient hospital to the New Acropolis museum. Chrysanthi pointed out that the top of the museum is offset from the rest of the structure so that it was exactly parallel to the Parthenon and was the same dimension and size as the Parthenon so it gave visitors a reference point for comparison. We spent about 1.5 hours in the museum which isn’t even close to the amount of time you would need to really see the whole thing.
We then took a driving tour of Athens and then got dropped off at the cruise terminal.
Dinner was at the Rooftop Garden Grill which is located outside on deck 15. It was pleasant, mostly shielded from the wind, but when the ship started moving, it cooled down quickly. The restaurant does offer blankets for diners. I had the seasonal vegetable crudite which included labneh (greek yogurt), hummus, and babaganoush (I love eggplant!) – it was delicious. Seth’s smoked chicken wings with dry rub was also really good as were Wade’s pulled pork sliders. I was so happy to see baked potatoes on the menu that I just ordered a ½ rack of “wet” ribs so I could have the meat on top of my baked potato. The waiter, however, did go ahead and bring us one of each side just like at Eden and Fine Cut. Everything we had was delicious – even Wade’s double-cut pork chop which was some of the most tender pork I’ve ever had. I had almost no room for dessert but did enjoy a glass of Rosa Regale after our meal.
Next post: Day 12 - Thursday, 5/25/23 - SeaDay
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