One of several tiny churches on the Greek island of Mykonos
Greece
Travel Tuesday photo: Tiny Church on Mykonos
Categories: Europe, Greece, Picture of the Week
Tags: Greece, Mykonos, Picture of the Week
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Travel Tuesday photo: A bull formerly atop a grave
A large bull that was once atop a grave at the Kerameikos Archaeological Site in Athens, Greece. This one is now in the museum while a replica has replaced it outdoors.
Categories: Europe, Greece, Picture of the Week
Tags: Athens, Europe, Greece, Kerameikos, Picture of the Week
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Travel Tuesday photo: Hadrian’s Arch and the Acropolis
The Parthenon sits on the Acropolis and overlooks Hadrian’s Arch. The Temple of Zeus is located behind the camera.
Hadrian’s Arch and the Acropolis
Categories: Europe, Greece, Picture of the Week
Tags: Acropolis, Athens, Europe, Greece, Hadrian's Arch, Parthenon, Picture of the Week
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Travel Tuesday Photo: The Acropolis at Night, Athens, Greece
The Acropolis at night. Athens, Greece
This photo is from the trip report Athens and a Mediterranean Cruise and specifically Our Time in Athens, Part I (Acropolis and Museum).
Categories: Europe, Greece, Picture of the Week
Tags: Athens, Greece, Travel Tuesday Photo
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2023: The Year in Travel
Another year has passed and I’m just thankful I got through this one without injury. I cracked my tibial plateau while on my European trip in 2022 which meant I didn’t get to ski but for a few hours this year but I still went on the trips I had planned and had a very good time anyway.
The Year in Travel – 2023
January
My first trip of the year was a visit to Winter Park, Colorado, a place I hadn’t visited in nearly 30 years. I was so looking forward to it because I really couldn’t remember much about it and had only been skiing a year when I visited last time. Sadly I spent an hour each day rehabbing my knee instead of skiing though I did get to go tubing one day.
I enjoyed a quick non-stop flight from Memphis to Denver on United and we took a bus right to the lodge. We stayed slopeside at the Zephyr Mountain Lodge where the location of your room can make a big difference.
Zephyr Mountain Lodge Slopeside Building
photo from Planet of Hotels.com
Categories: American Airlines, Autograph Collection, Award Travel, California, Colorado, Condos, Croatia, Cruises, Europe, Greece, Hotel, Iberia, Italy, Lufthansa, Mammoth, Marriott, Montenegro, North America, OneWorld, Ship Review, Star Alliance, Tours, UNESCO World Heritage Site, United, United States, Viking, Winter Park, Year in Review
Tags: Autograph Collection, Award Travel, California, Colorado, Croatia, Greece, Iberia, Italy, Lufthansa, Mammoth, Marriott, Montenegro, OneWorld, Ship Review, Star Alliance, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Viking, Viking Neptune, Winter Park, Year In Review
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Our Time in Corfu, Greece
Trip Report: Athens and a Mediterranean Cruise
Lounge Reviews: The Club CLT and Centurion Lounge Charlotte Airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A340-600 Charlotte-Munich
Lodging Review: Academias Hotel, Autograph Collection, Athens
Our Time in Athens, Part I (Acropolis and Museum)
Our Time in Athens, Part II (Roman Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Ancient Agora)
Our Time in Athens, Part III (Kerameikos, Temple of Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium)
Our Time in Athens, Part IV (Restaurants and Observations)
Ship Review: Viking Neptune
Our Time in Ancient Olympia (Katakalon, Greece)
Our Time in Corfu, Greece
Our Time in Kotor, Montenegro
Our Time in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Our Time in Zadar, Croatia
Our Time in Venice, Italy
Flight Review: Iberia A330-300 Madrid-Chicago
An Unexpected Twist
After we returned from our shore excursion in Ancient Olympia we were informed that one of our shore excursions for the following day had been canceled. Our excursion was to take us about an hour away to hike Mt. Pantokrator and then to visit Old Peritheia, Corfu’s oldest village that was once a hideaway from pirates. We had been proactively booked on the afternoon included tour, which was Panoramic Corfu & Old Town Walking Tour. While we hated to miss seeing cool sites, our feet were actually not all that upset. We heard it had rained in the area the day before we arrived and can only speculate that it made the conditions unsafe for the hike. As someone who was injured last year when an excursion took place in the rain instead of being canceled, I was fine with the way it was handled.
But that meant we now had a significant amount of shipboard credit to spend. We decided to make the best of it by getting massages in the Nordic Spa. We were able to schedule them for first thing in the morning, giving ourselves plenty of time before our afternoon tour. It was a very welcome treat after all the walking we’d done in Athens over the prior few days. The tour was scheduled to last 5.5 hours so our credit was enough to cover a one-hour massage and a little bit of the tip.
Exploring on our own
It was about a 200-yard walk from our ship to the Cruise Terminal. We didn’t notice it at the time but there are actually buses that run between the cruise terminal and the ships, so if that’s too far for you to walk, just wait for one of these free shuttles. Once you reach the cruise terminal you’ll exit through the building and then you can catch one of Viking’s shuttles into downtown. Unfortunately we didn’t pay attention that these shuttles were available so we just set out walking. There is not much in the immediate area of the cruise terminal other than a small row of shops across the street. But we just followed the trickle of people both from our ship and the giant one docked next to us and headed east along the coast road.
Port in Corfu
Categories: Europe, Greece, Historical Site, Tours, Trip Report, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Tags: Corfu, Europe, Greece, Historical Site, Trip Report, UNESCO World Heritage Site
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Our Time in Ancient Olympia (Katakalon, Greece)
Trip Report: Athens and a Mediterranean Cruise
Lounge Reviews: The Club CLT and Centurion Lounge Charlotte Airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A340-600 Charlotte-Munich
Lodging Review: Academias Hotel, Autograph Collection, Athens
Our Time in Athens, Part I (Acropolis and Museum)
Our Time in Athens, Part II (Roman Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Ancient Agora)
Our Time in Athens, Part III (Kerameikos, Temple of Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium)
Our Time in Athens, Part IV (Restaurants and Observations)
Ship Review: Viking Neptune
Our Time in Ancient Olympia (Katakalon, Greece)
Our Time in Corfu, Greece
Our Time in Kotor, Montenegro
Our Time in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Our Time in Zadar, Croatia
Our Time in Venice, Italy
Flight Review: Iberia A330-300 Madrid-Chicago
Our ship departed Athens at 6 PM on Saturday evening and it took us the rest of the night and all of Sunday morning to reach our first port of call, Katakolon, Greece as we had to sail around the Greek peninsula.
The included tour at this port was called Ancient Olympia and there were optional tours that included not only Ancient Olympia but a visit to the Magna Grecia olive estate, another where you can learn Greek folk dancing and a Flavors of the Greek Countryside tour. We stuck with the included tour but because we were in the cheaper staterooms we had to settle for the last tour of the day, which didn’t leave until 2:15 PM.
Port of Katakolo(n)
That wasn’t all bad. In Katakolon, the dock is not far at all from a tourist area with several restaurants and loads of souvenir shops. So after our ship docked at 12:30 PM we had time to go into this area and get our souvenirs purchased before the tour. I find it interesting that Viking refers to the port as Katakolon when all the local signage (and even Wikipedia) refer to the port name without the final N. From what I can see online the names appear to refer to the same place, it just seems odd!
Town of Katakolon as viewed from our ship
Our Time in Athens, Part IV (Restaurants and Observations)
Trip Report: Athens and a Mediterranean Cruise
Lounge Reviews: The Club CLT and Centurion Lounge Charlotte Airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A340-600 Charlotte-Munich
Lodging Review: Academias Hotel, Autograph Collection, Athens
Our Time in Athens, Part I (Acropolis and Museum)
Our Time in Athens, Part II (Roman Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Ancient Agora)
Our Time in Athens, Part III (Kerameikos, Temple of Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium)
Our Time in Athens, Part IV (Restaurants and Observations)
Ship Review: Viking Neptune
Our Time in Ancient Olympia (Katakalon, Greece)
Our Time in Corfu, Greece
Our Time in Kotor, Montenegro
Our Time in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Our Time in Zadar, Croatia
Our Time in Venice, Italy
Flight Review: Iberia A330-300 Madrid-Chicago
Restaurants
When my friend and I travel together we’re not always looking for “the best meal”. Rather, we love finding places frequented by locals which are sometimes off the beaten path. That doesn’t mean we don’t occasionally stop in at places that typically serve tourists; after all, that’s what we are! But often times we’ve found those places don’t have the best food and/or don’t give the best bang for your buck.
Case in point: our hotel offered a breakfast buffet. While I am currently a Lifetime Silver (Marriott’s lowest-level elite) and have Gold status this year (thanks to my Amex Platinum card), breakfast is not complementary at either level. The breakfast buffet at the hotel was €25. I’ve always been someone who loves and needs breakfast but there’s no way I’m going to pay that much, especially three days in a row. Instead, my friend and I went to the local grocery store and stocked up on enough fruit and yogurt to last us for a couple of days and decided to eat at a local cafe on our final morning in town.
For our dinners we mostly used Google Maps to locate restaurants near us. We’d find a few that looked interesting and then walk over and check them out in person before actually dining.
Meat N Roses
After getting settled into our hotel, this is where we dined our first evening. It’s a very small place with the tables actually in a pedestrian alley between two sections of the building. It was traditional Greek food with a twist and very reasonably-priced. Definitely recommend. Open noon-1 AM every day.
Meat N Roses, Amerikis 7, Athens 106 72 Continue reading
Categories: Advice, Europe, Greece, Trip Report
Tags: Advice, Athens, Greece, Restaurants, Trip Report
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Our Time in Athens, Part III (Kerameikos, Temple of Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium)
Trip Report: Athens and a Mediterranean Cruise
Lounge Reviews: The Club CLT and Centurion Lounge Charlotte Airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A340-600 Charlotte-Munich
Lodging Review: Academias Hotel, Autograph Collection, Athens
Our Time in Athens, Part I (Acropolis and Museum)
Our Time in Athens, Part II (Roman Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Ancient Agora)
Our Time in Athens, Part III (Kerameikos, Temple of Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium)
Our Time in Athens, Part IV (Restaurants and Observations)
Ship Review: Viking Neptune
Our Time in Ancient Olympia (Katakalon, Greece)
Our Time in Corfu, Greece
Our Time in Kotor, Montenegro
Our Time in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Our Time in Zadar, Croatia
Our Time in Venice, Italy
Flight Review: Iberia A330-300 Madrid-Chicago
We slept in just a little the next day as we did not have to be anywhere at a certain time but we were still out before 9 AM to try to beat the heat. We still had our 24-hour Metro pass and this is when we learned the closest stop to our hotel was actually only a 4-minute walk away. Crossing Akadimias street we walked down the hill to the next major street and took a right. From there it was just a block-and-a-half to the Panepistimo Metro station, which is on the Blue line. On our side of the street, just in front of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (pictured below) there’s an entrance with steps going down and an escalator coming up. If you need to take the elevator down, cross Panepistimo to the plaza area and you’ll find the elevator there.
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
We took the train to the Kerameikos Archaeological Site and Museum. It may not have been much faster than walking but our feet were still aching from the previous day and we were in no hurry so that was fine by us. Continue reading
Our Time in Athens, Part II (Roman Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Ancient Agora)
Trip Report: Athens and a Mediterranean Cruise
Lounge Reviews: The Club CLT and Centurion Lounge Charlotte Airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A340-600 Charlotte-Munich
Lodging Review: Academias Hotel, Autograph Collection, Athens
Our Time in Athens, Part I (Acropolis and Museum)
Our Time in Athens, Part II (Roman Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Ancient Agora)
Our Time in Athens, Part III (Kerameikos, Temple of Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium)
Our Time in Athens, Part IV (Restaurants and Observations)
Ship Review: Viking Neptune
Our Time in Ancient Olympia (Katakalon, Greece)
Our Time in Corfu, Greece
Our Time in Kotor, Montenegro
Our Time in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Our Time in Zadar, Croatia
Our Time in Venice, Italy
Flight Review: Iberia A330-300 Madrid-Chicago
After having lunch at the Acropolis Museum we spent the afternoon at three other sites that were close to the Acropolis.
Roman Agora
The Roman Agora, or marketplace, was built around 27-17 BC using funds donated by Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus, known as Octavian, the founder of the Roman empire to fulfill a promise made by Julius Caesar in 51 BC. While the area has not been fully excavated it’s easy to see it followed a common basic layout of a large open plaza surrounded by colonnades on three sides.
Roman Agora
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