The Inaugural Vista's Official Trippingpara Mayhem in the Mediterranean Review

[trippingpara]

Amazing pics of the Chef's Table, thanks so much!!

 

Thank you so much for the kind words. I was afraid that some of the Chef's Table pics (especially the pics near the end of the dinner) might come out a bit blurry. The wine was flowing like Niagara Falls that night!

[trippingpara]

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[trippingpara]

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Friday, May 6th – Athens, Greece

 

I have to say that I was probably looking forward to Athens the least of any of our ports. I was here briefly before when I was in the Marines. I found the city to be dirty and just unattractive then. Of course as a 19-year-old jarhead getting some down time in a foreign port, ancient and historical sites were not very high on my list of things to see. Nor was I hanging out in the classiest area of the city! If you wanted to know anything about some of the seedier bars located near the port, I could have probably hooked you up back then!

 

 

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[trippingpara]

Anyways, we had joined a semi-private group from our roll call. You may know some of them here. Our fearless leader and resident Canuck was CarnieAddict along with Captain Carnival, Surrealistic, Andetr75 and bellaterra. It was a great group! We were to meet them right off the gangway at 7:15 am. We ran into everyone and headed off to the parking lot where we quickly found our guide. Once we got loaded up onto the minibus, our guide informed us that the metro line workers were striking and there was going to be a big protest in the city center. Ah Greece. The people that invented democracy and protests. America’s favorite pastime is baseball. In Greece, it’s striking and protesting! Needless to say, this caused quite a bit of disruption in our tour agenda due to the extreme traffic. It wreaked havoc on our timeline and caused us to backtrack quite often. The biggest change was having to move our lunch and free time from the Plaka District to the extreme western edge of it near the Agora to avoid the traffic. Our guide was doing the best that he could with the situation.

 

 

 

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Man, and I thought traffic in Boston was bad....!

 

 

Pick a lane people!

 

 

 

The Happy Train!

 

 

 

A glass statue

 

 

 

I don't think I want to know what that rope is for...

 

 

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Edited June 22, 2016 by trippingpara

[trippingpara]

One of our first stops was at an overlook on Lofos Likavitou, a large hill that overlooked Athens with a viewpoint of the Acropolis. After several hundred photos, we packed back into the van and headed back into the traffic. We eventually made our way to the Acropolis where it was mobbed. There were several cruise ships in port and I think every passenger and crew member on those ships were there! Not to mention all of the regular land tourists from the hotels as well! Everyone did the best they could with the crowds.

 

 

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Standing at the base and looking up at the Acropolis

 

 

 

Even the Greek dogs were on strike!

 

 

 

 

 

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[trippingpara]

More of the Acropolis

 

 

 

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Odeon of Herodes Atticus

 

 

Propylaea

 

 

 

The Porch of the Caryatids

 

 

 

The Parthenon

 

 

 

The Greek hero returns from war to waving flags and ...oh wait, that's just me

 

 

 

The Temple of Athena Nike

 

 

 

Coming up next...The Agora

 

 

 

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Edited June 22, 2016 by trippingpara

[bizzybee902]

Love the review.Hoping to be on the Vista in December. Glad to hear you got to know Orlando better. He is very sweet. I met him on the Breeze with Matt. Matt said he had issues leaving Jamaica and they were trying to rush him to the Inaugural. Don't know if Matt was being silly, but I was glad to hear he made it. They are a great pair! Great pics!

 

Orlando and I

[trippingpara]

Love the review.Hoping to be on the Vista in December. Glad to hear you got to know Orlando better. He is very sweet. I met him on the Breeze with Matt. Matt said he had issues leaving Jamaica and they were trying to rush him to the Inaugural. Don't know if Matt was being silly, but I was glad to hear he made it. They are a great pair! Great pics!

 

Orlando and I

 

My man Orlando!! I hope to bump into him in the future and I swear I won't give him such a hard time again!!

[trippingpara]

Our next stop was to Zeus’ Palace and then to the Agora where we would have our free time and lunch. Once we toured around the Agora, there was only enough time for lunch and no shopping. This did not help matters as many of us wanted to go shopping and visit the Plaka District.

 

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Zeus' Palace

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you've followed any of my other reviews, you know that Lady Trip has a thing for dogs and cats

 

 

 

Looking back towards the Acropolis from Zeus' Palace

 

 

 

Statues at the Agora

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[trippingpara]

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The Agora

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right outside the Agora

 

 

 

 

 

 

The little restaurant where we ate some traditional souvlaki. YUM!

 

 

 

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[Shih-tzu]

Loving the review. Dubrovnik or Athens don't appear to have changed much in 43 years (from what I can remember - I was only a high-school student at the time).

[trippingpara]

Loving the review. Dubrovnik or Athens don't appear to have changed much in 43 years (from what I can remember - I was only a high-school student at the time).

 

Thank you so much. I know that Athens doesn't look like its changed since I was last there some 28 years ago :eek:. From what we saw of Dubrovnik, it doesn't look like its changed in the past 400 years!

 

Looks like we'll be heading up your way next August on the Sunshine. We'll be making a port call in Saint John, NB

Edited June 23, 2016 by trippingpara

[ONACRUISE]

Thanks so much for the awesome pictures and review. My girlfriend and I will be sailing on the Vista when it comes to New York in November. The information you have provided will help us immensely once on board.

 

Anthem of the Seas-11/10/15

Liberty of the Seas-5/6/15

Quantum of the Seas-3/21/15

Quantum of the Seas-11/18/14

Explorer of the Seas-5/3/14

Carnival Splendor-5/1/13

Explorer of the Seas-6/21/12

Carnival Miracle-10/13/11

Carnival Miracle-6/24/10

Carnival Dream-11/15/09

Explorer of the Seas-5/14/09

Caribbean Princess-8/6/08

Carnival Miracle-4/17/08

Carnival Miracle-7/14/07

Carnival Miracle-4/19/07

Explorer of the Seas-6/2/06

Adventure of the Seas-11/20/05

Voyager of the Seas-7/24/05

Carnival Victory-9/11/04

Voyager of the Seas-7/16/04

Norwegian Dawn-11/30/03

Carnival Pride-8/27/03

Carnival Legend-6/6/03

Carnival Triumph-8/10/02

Carnival Pride-5/11/02

Edited June 23, 2016 by ONACRUISE

[trippingpara]

Thanks so much for the awesome pictures and review. My girlfriend and I will be sailing on the Vista when it comes to New York in November. The information you have provided will help us immensely once on board.

 

Thank you so much for such kind words. Glad my review will help you on your next journey. You're going to love the Vista!!

[NCTribeFan]

Just now getting caught up with reading this. Love the photos of Dubrovnik. Unfortunately, we didn't actually see the city (had an all-day wine tasting/lunch tour, which was great, but really wanted to see Dubrovnik).

 

And thanks for posting the FunTimes. I somehow managed to get home with a couple of days missing. We only got one in the cabin each night (not sure if anyone ever asked the steward to leave more; probably not) and tried to be sure to pick one up elsewhere for each day but I obviously didn't!

 

I took very few ship photos since I knew I had limited memory on my phone and even than nearly ran out and I was forced to mostly use my P&S camera from Sicily on and the quality of the photos is not nearly as good, which makes me sad.

 

Looking forward to the rest!

[Shih-tzu]

Thank you so much. I know that Athens doesn't look like its changed since I was last there some 28 years ago :eek:. From what we saw of Dubrovnik, it doesn't look like its changed in the past 400 years!

 

Looks like we'll be heading up your way next August on the Sunshine. We'll be making a port call in Saint John, NB

 

Sunshine was in port just last week I believe. I'm between 50 min to 1 hr away from the cruise terminal but I was born and brought up there. Hope you enjoy it. Not sure what you are planning, but if you're trying to decide I might be able to give you "local" insight.

Edited June 24, 2016 by Shih-tzu
Added sentence

[trippingpara]

Sunshine was in port just last week I believe. I'm between 50 min to 1 hr away from the cruise terminal but I was born and brought up there. Hope you enjoy it. Not sure what you are planning, but if you're trying to decide I might be able to give you "local" insight.

 

Thank you so much. We could definitely use some local assistance. There's so much we want to see but sure how much of it we can see.

[Shih-tzu]

Thank you so much. We could definitely use some local assistance. There's so much we want to see but sure how much of it we can see.

 

When it gets closer and you have a general idea of what you're interested in then perhaps I can point you to the best shore excursion or give you an idea of how to do it on your own.

 

Depending on the day of the week and if I'm working or not I'd even zip down to take you around....

[trippingpara]

When it gets closer and you have a general idea of what you're interested in then perhaps I can point you to the best shore excursion or give you an idea of how to do it on your own.

 

Depending on the day of the week and if I'm working or not I'd even zip down to take you around....

 

That would be awesome! Thanks Shih-tzu!

[trippingpara]

After lunch, we headed back out into the cluster BLEEP that were the streets of Athens. Even though the protests were over, the traffic was still snarled up pretty bad. We were now doubling back onto some stops that we had skipped earlier in the morning. We pulled up in front of the Parliament Building.

 

 

 

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Although the Parliament Building itself is interesting, the main reason we were here was for the Tomb of Unknown Soldier and the changing of the guard. Every hour on the hour, the guards are relieved ceremoniously and are a very big tourist draw. We pulled up to the curb about 15 minutes to the hour. Great, I thought. I have time to get over there and get a photo of me with the guard. But then our driver/guide decided that now was a good time for a complete dissertation on Greek history surrounding the Parliament Building, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the uniforms that the Greek soldiers guarding the tomb wear. It was great info but the clock was ticking and the crowd was growing. My photographer eye was twitching and my hands were starting to shake. Am I going to miss my photo opportunity? What would happen if I just hit the emergency release for this window? Is that crime? Would I get arrested? Luckily I didn’t have to find that answer out as the driver finally went silent and opened the door to our minibus. And I was off to the races. Even though the crowd was starting to grow, there were plenty of little kids that I was able to body check and push out of my way to get to the front.

 

 

I could pull those tights off! My knobbly knees would be rather sexy in those!

 

 

 

Here come the relief guards...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[trippingpara]

Once the guards had fully changed and their ceremony was over, we loaded back up and made a quick stop at the Panathenaic Stadium where the original Olympic games were held. Our guide suggested that we just check it out from the outside as you have to pay an entrance fee to get in and you can see everything from the outside since one end of the stadium is completely open. We were only here long enough for everyone to grab a couple dozen quick photos. Okay, so I grabbed a quick couple dozen. Normal folks probably only took a couple!

 

 

 

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[trippingpara]

Our final stop of the day was to the new Acropolis Museum. Which by the way just happens to be located in the Plaka District. Since everyone really wanted to go to the Plaka District to shop, I believe that everyone passed over the museum and instead used the time to stroll around and shop in the Plaka. I was bummed about it as I really did want to tour the museum but one of our best friends is Greek and she specifically requested us to grab a couple things from there so shopping won out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Acropolis Museum

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved these little delivery bikes

 

 

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We all walked around shopping to our hearts content. Eventually we all returned back to the bus on time. We then made our way back through Athens to where the Vista was docked. We were pretty beat and decided to take an easy night. We opened one of our bottles of wine that we purchased at Bled Lake in Slovenia. It was a semi-sweet white wine and it was very good. One of the best whites that I’ve had. We sat on our balcony sipping the wine and watching the sunset. I had to make a couple calls for work and really ticked everyone off there when they asked what I was doing at that moment. You knew I was in Europe so why ask what I’m doing if you’re going to get jealous!? Well, we capped the night off after a quick trip to the buffet with a rum and coke in our room. Yummy! Until next time…!

 

 

 

Next up...Heraklion, Crete

 

 

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[crusinpsychRN]

Fabulous! Pics are stunning. Not the usual ports.

 

Seems odd there is a pool table in the weather. Do they cover it if it rains? Vista looks very different than the usual Carnival ship.

 

Thanks for all your hard work on this.

[trippingpara]

Fabulous! Pics are stunning. Not the usual ports.

 

Seems odd there is a pool table in the weather. Do they cover it if it rains? Vista looks very different than the usual Carnival ship.

 

Thanks for all your hard work on this.

 

 

Thank you very much, I appreciate the kind words. I was surprised when I saw the pool table outside too. I just assumed that it was treated to be weatherproof. I never saw them cover it but I can't say that I went out to the Sports Deck to inspect it when it rained either. :D The Liberty was my favorite ship until the Vista. I have to say Vista easily beat out Liberty - at least for us!

[trippingpara]

Just noticed I missed a couple evening pics of Athens taken from our balcony whilst sipping some excellent Slovenian wine...

 

 

 

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