Italy and Greece: Day 12 (Last day!)

It’s our last day in Europe, which means it’s almost time to come home (actually, I’m sitting on the plane from Athens right now as I write this, so it is time to come home!)

The morning started on the ship. We were woken up at 6am so that we could gather our things and leave our rooms by 7. Breakfast was being served in the restaurant and buffet area, so we made sure to fill up. We had a long day ahead of us. We disembarked at 7:30 and met our new bus driver. He took us to the hotel so that we could drop off our luggage, and then we started making our way into the city. I know LA traffic is bad, but Athens traffic was horrendous! I guess the public transportation workers are on strike for a few hours every day and today’s strike happened to be during rush hour. It took us almost 2 hours to get into a city that was only 30 minutes away…

Our first stop was the Olympic Stadium. Built for the 1896 Olympics, this stadium is also the finish line of the marathon (the one that the soldier ran from the City of Marathon to tell Athens of their victory, then immediately dropped dead). This is also where the Olympic torch gets lit and then passed out to other countries. We stopped for a quick photo op and then loaded back on the bus for our drive to the Acropolis.

The Acropolis was way up on a hill that we had to climb. Our guide gave us detailed information about the history of Athens and all of its ancient buildings while we walked and also gave us plenty of breaks so the hike seemed bearable. When we finally made it to the top, we were given free time to explore. We saw the Parthenon which had the statue of Athena, we saw wa temple dedicated to Nike, a few other structures still standing and had a great view of the city. After our pictures, we slowly made our way back down and had our lunch break. Most of the kids had gyros, a traditional Greek street food.

Lunch ended and it was time to visit the Acropolis Museum. This is the place where all of the statues and artifacts found at the excavation site are displayed. There were so many incredible sculptures in great condition. The artistic ability and detail of the time is something to marvel at. Our time in the museum was just enough. The kids even had time to get some icees!

We left the museum and stated making our way to Plaka, which is the main shopping area of the city. There were shops lining the road for blocks and blocks. From souvenirs, to local food products, they have everything. They even had a fish spa! And what’s more surprising is that at least half of the group decided to go to this fish spa. You sit on a chair with your feet in a tank full of little fish and they eat all of the dead skin off. I didn’t participate but the kids said it was great. You’ll have to ask them about it. We finished up all of our souvenir shopping and spend the last of our euros before being picked up for dinner.

Dinner was at the hotel this time, so we settled in for the night and had a delicious salad and bread, chicken with rice and veggies, and a banana for dessert. You would be surprised how many kids ate their dessert! Trying to keep them healthy ;) We said our good nights, made sure to pack everything up and set our alarms for 7:30. Our flight leaves Athens at 1:05pm tomorrow and we arrive in LA at 10:29pm, which will feel like 8:29am the next day! So if they’re tired, you know why! Enjoy the last blog and pictures. Thanks for following along. It has been a blast!