Ah, the curse of the Stevens and ships. This morning, as we were waking up, suddenly there was a total power failure. There was even a PA announcement explaining that the elevators would be working again soon. No…please…not again. We’re trying terribly hard not to channel the bad NCL Star Juju here. On the positive side – we did have power. On the negative – we had no hot water. Bummer. We waited a bit, tried and tried the faucets, but to no avail. We called guest relations, who told us that because of the power failure the water had to heat up again. They instructed us to just keep the water running and it would come back on. Not. So – 1 sponge bath (Cathy) and totally cold shower (Ed) later, we left to start our day in Greece.
Today, it turns out, will be a total CF. We go downstairs to disembark and end up in a line for almost an hour. The immigration officials who were supposed to be aboard by 7, didn’t even show up until 7:45. Thus, the line. Everyone was quite polite and kept to the queue (no nasty woman flipping us off this time), and eventually we all made it off the ship.
Sadly, though, we were berthed at the “bad pier.” This would be the pier furthest from the city center of Piraeus. We’ve never been here before – all the times we’ve been in Piraeus – on every size of ship – we’ve always been at the pier closest to the city. Not today. There is supposedly a shuttle inside the port that will take us to terminal A – but when we finally get off the ship, there is no one to ask. There is an odd bus sitting off to the side – and as I’m heading there, another passenger is coming from the bus and tells us it is a shuttle to a Norwegian cruise line ship. Huh? There isn’t an NCL ship in port. But, whatever.
We walk outside the terminal, and ask one of the guides out there about the shuttle. She tells us it’s inside the port – back through security. Crap – it was that random bus sitting there. Maybe we can catch it still. Back through security we go – and just our luck – the bus is gone. There ensues conversations with Celebrity staff that is a little frustrating (and not accurate), so we have a decision to make – hike it or go back on the ship. It’s not an easy decision as Ed’s hip is doing its thing – but we decide to brave it and walk out. (PS – the only bright spot of this delay is we get to talk to the Hotel Director and tell him about our hot water – which he promises to check out for us – so bonus there!).
Back outside security, we wander down the street, wait at a bus stop for Athens, until one of the port officials tells us there is no bus today, then finally walk out and head to Hertz. Turns out it is not that bad of a walk and we make it with little difficulty. So much for that angst.
The same rental agent is there at the office from our past visits, and he is a doll. He checks us in, gives us a map and explicit directions (as he did last time) and we are off the south this time – destination Souniou and the Temple of Poseidon.
It’s a little over an hour to get the tip of the peninsula and the Poseidon ruins. We had planned to take the coastal route down – but end up making a wrong turn – yeah that stupid GPS – this time Google Girl – doesn’t give us the explicit instructions to stay straight on the highway and not bear to the right toward Lamia. She’s been telling us to head toward Lamia – then nothing. Well, hell, there’s the Lamia sign. And off we go – onto the highway that takes us way out toward the airport then turns us back south to the peninsula. In the long run, it’s actually faster this way (if not more expensive, because there is a 3 Euro toll, and it is more KM which will push us over our 100KM limit to the tune of about 12 Euro) – and we get a totally different view of the southern region of Athens.
After the wrong turn, we make it to Souniou with little incident. Because we are still early, we luck out and get a parking space in the upper lot right next to the temple. Heading up to the entrance we get great shots of the temple sitting majestically on the crown of the mountain overlooking the sea.
We walk through the coffee shop and enter into the grounds, paying our fee before the Asian tour group (from our ship) gets in there. Yes! We beat at least one Asian bus – the other is already at the top – but luckily leaving as we ascent the hill.
The Temple of Poseidon is located within a fort that protected the coast of Attica. Built in the 5th Century BC, on the site of another temple destroyed during the Persian invasion in 480 BC, this temple, along with the Temple of Athena were sanctuaries in honor of the Greeks two most important deities. It is stunning in its simplicity, yet impressive with its marble columns and magnificent perch above the sea.
We spend quite a bit of time just walking around the site, taking in the views and marveling at the construction and remains of the great temple.
It’s a beautiful day, and if it weren’t so early, a fabulous place to picnic for lunch. But, it’s just after 10am, so we’re not even close to food yet – if we had any with us that is. There are trails here that go down to the fort walls along the coastline – and another trail that leads to the Temple of Athena. We decide not to bother with them, and head instead to the cafe at the base of the grounds, where we can have cappuccino, avail ourselves of their wifi to double-check maps and spend some nice time in the sun before heading back up north for lunch.
It’s an expensive diversion – 8 plus euros for cappuccino, but it is nice to sit on the patio, enjoying the weather and catching up on emails and the world. (As an aside – Celebrity claims to have upgraded their internet service, so well in fact that you can stream and FaceTime with it – they call it Xcelerate – but on this ship? I call it Xasperate. Fast – it is not. Accessible – again not. We’re lucky if we can log onto the darn thing – much less get our email or send out email. Forget pictures. Oh – and logging out? Nah, not possible, so you waste all your minutes just trying to get off the darn server. ‘Nuff said – but wanted to provide a bit of background as to why the Internet here at the cafe is so appealing.)
So, we sit, waste time, and drink our coffees. It’s all fabulous – as we get up to leave, we turn around for one last picture – and lo and behold – the fog has rolled in and there is no more Temple!
Holy cow, did we time that right! (And, FYI, fast forward, we talked to some of our acquaintances on the ship who arrived at Poseidon later in the day and they said it never cleared. It was still in the fog in the afternoon, which their guide said she had never, ever seen in her entire guiding career.)
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