After spending the morning in Chios, we returned to the ship for cocktails and lunch. We were supposed to go to Mykonos in the afternoon. But when we arrived, we encountered a storm which wouldn’t allow us to take the tender from the ship to the port. Like Santorini, the harbor couldn’t handle large ships and the sea was too choppy for the tenders. I took a photo of Mykonos as we went by.
This was the start of a big storm, so the ship’s captain decided to just head back to Lavrion. Our little group had signed up for a tour of Mykonos plus dinner for our last night on the cruise. Instead, the ship changed both the dinner and the show to two seatings each. They advised women not to wear high heels and everyone to stay away from the open decks. It soon began to rain heavily, so nobody wanted to be out on the open decks anyway.
Although the ship was a little rocky, I didn’t think it was as bad as the storm when on that overnight ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm a few years earlier. I just stayed near the walls where I could grab a railing when needed. Fortunately the rocking was not too violent and I wasn’t tossed around during the night like I had been on the ferry. So I slept well.
We arrived in Lavrion earlier than planned. Lavrion is itself an interesting location. It was the site of the oldest silver mine in the world, dating back to prehistoric times. The silver from that mine financed the Athenian fleet that was victorious over the Persians in 480 BC. It also financed the buildings on the Acropolis in Athens.
We headed for our hotel in Athens (the same one as when we arrived), but they weren’t ready for us. They also didn’t have any place to lock up anyone’s luggage. So we were stuck with sitting in the lobby and waiting as one by one our rooms were made ready. Yep. You guessed it. Mine was one of the last.
By the time I got into my room, everyone else had already departed for whatever they had planned for our last day in Greece. I had a list of options, but only really had time for the Acropolis Museum. I have included here a photo of the museum that I took from the Acropolis when we were there at the beginning of the tour.
This museum was built to house the artifacts found on the Acropolis and on the slopes. It replaced a much smaller museum that had been built on the Acropolis itself back in the 19th century. Because it was being built over some Roman and Byzantine ruins, it was perched on top of pillars with glass floors and some open areas through which the ancient ruins can be seen.
Once inside, the first space has a sloping glass floor through which parts of the excavation below can be seen. Displayed on both sides are artifacts found on the slopes of the Acropolis. This leads to a staircase representing the ascent to the Acropolis. There were a couple of Athena Nike statues along the route as they would have been at the Acropolis itself.
Once up the hill and stairs comes a very large hallway of statues from the Archaic period. This would have been from the 7th century BC through the end of the Persian Wars (roughly 480/79 BC). The statues were scattered around on pedestals so they could be viewed from all angles.
From there you are supposed to go up an escalator to the Parthenon Gallery and see the other items on this floor on the way down. But I was very anxious to see the Caryatids from the Erectheion, so I sort of jumped the gun, moved out of the prescribed order of things and visited the ladies next. These are the originals. The statues on the Acropolis are copies.
I rejoined the plan from where I left off and went up to see the statues and friezes from the Parthenon itself. The level on which these pieces were housed, had floor to ceiling glass walls. Views of the Acropolis and the Parthenon from there were amazing. I kept taking photos of those views as well as of the beautiful art.
On the way down, the last grouping was from the 5th century BC to the 5th century AD. There were some great statues and pottery from that era as well. There was one bust that I thought had a very pleasant, gentle-looking face. They actually knew who he was — Tiberius Julius Sauromates II. He was a Roman Client King of the Bosphorus Kingdom (which was just north of the Black Sea) from 174 to 210 AD. Not much else is known about him other than that.
I had a good view of the entrance from up there when I went over to the windows to sit down for a bit. Somewhere along the way my left foot had begun to hurt. I reconnoitered with my museum map, deciding to have some lunch at the cafeteria one floor down and then check out the shop before heading back to the hotel.
On my way back to the hotel, I encountered Barbara, Roberta and Chris. Chris wasn’t feeling well and wanted to return to the hotel, so I escorted her back. The four of us planned to meet up in the hotel lobby later to go to dinner together. In the meantime back at the hotel, I pulled out an ace bandage and my folding cane. My foot was really hurting.
We had a delicious Greek dinner at a café near the Acropolis Museum. We toasted our time in Greece and headed back to the hotel to get everything ready for our departure the next day.
When I returned home, I found that I had a stress fracture in my foot and ended up in a big, black boot for the next couple of months. It matched the sling I got in another week from planned surgery on my left shoulder.
I didn’t take another trip for a couple of years until I flew to NYC to see the Royal Shakespeare Company perform Richard II. From there I flew to Edinburgh and then took the train down to London. That trip begins next time.
Mykonos while sailing by 
Acropolis Museum seen from Acropolis 
Acropolis seen from near museum entrance 
Excavation below museum 
More of excavation 
Archaic statues 
Athena Nike 
Caryatids 
A Caryatid 
Small sculptures from Parthenon 
Some larger sculptures 
Part of a frieze 
More Parthenon sculptures 
Another sculpture 
Parthenon viewed from museum 
Pottery 
Later statue 
Bust of Tiberius Julius Sauromates II 
Entrance to museum as seen from one floor up