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Old 18 Aug 14, 09:45 AM  
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LaurenM
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Disney Cruise Line - July 8th 2014 - 9 Night Mediterranean – Piraeus, Greece

Today was the only day we had a Port Adventure to Athens planned so we had to set an alarm for another early morning. Unfortunately during the night both mum and Natasha had both been feeling unwell and woke up feeling much the same. Since neither fancied breakfast dad and I headed up to Cabana’s whilst they got some more rest before our excursion. Having only had late breakfasts so far this cruise dad and I were not prepared for the huge mass of people at Cabanas this morning! Luckily we managed to find a table for two and had a quick bite to eat before grabbing some drinks for mum and Natasha and heading back down to the staterooms.

Mum and Natasha had started to feel a bit better so we went down to the Promenade Lounge for the 8:45am Port Adventure meeting time. There was a short line to show our photo ID’s and get our group stickers – we were departure 20 on the adult’s only Athens, Acropolis and Sightseeing excursion. We sat down at a table in the lounge and waited about 10-15 minutes for the rest of our group to arrive before being led down to the gangway and onward through the terminal to the waiting coach. Here we were introduced to our tour guide for the day (who’s name we never caught) and after filling the coach we were on our way.

Getting out of Piraeus and into Athens took quite a long time due to the traffic and terrible parking in the cities. On the journey our guide mostly spoke about the origin of the two cities and how they became joined under the Athens name umbrella. She also spoke a lot about modern day life in Greece and a few of the buildings we passed. When we eventually made it into the main part of Athens we stopped in front of the marble Panathenaic Stadium built for the first modern day Olympic games in 1896. After the guide spoke about the original stadium built on this site and the expensive refurbishment we were allowed 10 minutes to get out of the coach and take some photos at the entrance. It had already started to get very hot and we didn’t have much time so we briefly admired the pristine marble stadium and took the obligatory photos of us standing at the entrance before heading back to the air conditioned coach.






After everyone was back on board we drove around the cities major sights with the tour guide pointing these out and giving a brief description of their importance before moving on to the next. Unfortunately as we were moving quite fast, and the majority of the buildings were on the side of the coach we were not sat on, we didn’t get many decent photos.




Once we had finished the sightseeing portion of our excursion we parked up at the bottom of the Acropolis where we all disembarked the coach and were given a bottle of water each before turning on our headsets and following our guide to the entrance. After climbing some stairs we reached an area with restrooms where we were told to wait whilst the guide went to buy our entry tickets. After 5-10 minutes she returned and handed them out and directed us to the entrance where we all scanned our tickets and proceeded to climb up towards the Acropolis.




We were glad we wore fairly sturdy footwear as the surfaces were uneven and slippery, we are not sure how the many tourists in flip flops didn’t injure themselves! On the climb up to the Acropolis we stopped to view some other sights including a theatre, unfortunately the whisper systems of all the Disney employed tour guides were interfering with one another so unless you stood right next to the guide you could not hear what was being said.








We continued to a set of large steps up to a small path that led to the main area with the Parthenon. With the crush of people walking up to the Acropolis and another crowd coming back down this area had a huge backlog of people and became quite dangerous as the marble steps were very slippery. If you ever visit the Acropolis with small children please take great care with them here, as it could prove quite dangerous. We made it through to the Parthenon where we paused for quite a while whilst the guide pointed out various points of interest and spoke briefly about restoration efforts. Unfortunately the heat, lack of shade and crowd levels meant that mum and Natasha started to feel quite unwell so decided to seek out shade and wait there whilst we finished this part of the tour.














Dad and I continued with the tour group round the rest of the buildings for another half an hour before we were given 40 minutes to look around on our own before meeting back at the coach. We made our way back to where mum and Natasha had found some shade and headed down to the exit to find a cool spot and grabbed some ice slushy drinks on the way. Whilst we were glad to see the Acropolis and Athens, which we probably would not have visited otherwise, it would have been more enjoyable to visit at a cooler, less busy time of year.

Once the group arrived back at the coach we made the return journey to the port. On the journey our guide continued to talk about modern life in Greece. She told us that the reason they eat their main meals late in the evening is because they tend to work late. One guest asked how late this was – her response was 3:30-4pm! Everyone laughed thinking she was joking, she wasn’t! Luckily the journey back to the port was much faster than this morning so we were back on the ship in no time.

Mum was still feeling quite unwell so she went back to the stateroom for a lie down whilst dad, Natasha and I headed to Cabanas for a late lunch. Again there was a great selection of food for lunch that differed from that served on other days for variety. After we finished we grabbed some fruit and desserts to take down to mum as she hadn’t eaten anything yet.

Dad and Natasha also weren’t feeling too great so they all decided to take a nap. As there weren’t many activities happening on the ship this afternoon I took mums camera and headed off round the ship taking lots of photos of the facilities and the design elements used to tell a story in each of these. By now I was very familiar with the ships layout and easily found my around despite never having cruised before. On my travels on Deck 5 I bumped into Donald and his handler as he was exiting a kids club after another character appearance.




By about 4pm I was flagging myself so I headed back to the stateroom and took a nap myself, which is highly unlike me. We all woke up just in time to take showers and get ready for dinner, which tonight was back in Animators Palette. This evening we had our first specialty menu – Kouzzina of the Greek Isles. We ate at Kouzzina on the Boardwalk last year in WDW and had a great meal so we had high hopes for this menu. Unfortunately this menu hasn’t been posted online and we forgot to take a photo so I don’t have the official names of our choices.




For starters mum and I had pitta bread with three choices of dip and dad had a dish of which none of us can remember what it is (please see photo).




For main course Natasha and I took advantage of their Sirloin Steak and Chicken Breast lighter note options as usual. As nothing appealed to mum on the normal menu she also had the Sirloin Steak with a baked potato. Dad thought he had ordered Filet steak but ended up with a filet of fish with risotto – I’m guessing he forgot his glasses tonight. I’ve asked him what type of fish it was; his response was that it was only one mouthful so he doesn’t know!




For dessert we ordered the lemon cheesecake, a chocolate cake and the Sweet Temptations trio of desserts.






We were quite disappointed with this menu and the choices available but this was most likely down to our own tastes and that none of us were feeling at our best today.












After dinner we went out onto Deck 4 to watch us sail away from Pireaus and watch the sun setting before we headed to the Walt Disney Theatre for tonight’s show, which was The Magic and Illusion of Kyle Knight and Mistie. The duo was excellent, had good stage personalities and kept everyone entertained for the full hour. As big Disney fans we still much prefer the Disney productions but appreciate that others might enjoy the change.

Once the show was over we spent some time browsing in the shops before heading up to Deck 9 for yet more food as mum and Natasha had now started to feel much better.

Tomorrow – Kusadasi, Turkey and a day onboard the ship
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Old 18 Aug 14, 05:03 PM  
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Another lovely day though it's a shame about feeling unwell. Some lovely piccies of you and your sister!
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Old 6 Sep 14, 07:48 AM  
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A shame about the not feeling so great, but beautiful family photos on the deck!
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Old 24 Oct 14, 06:14 PM  
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A lovely day again. Shame that none of you were feeling your best.
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