Almost Live - Viking Sky - Journey to Antiquities - Jan 2023

[OneSixtyToOne]

Day 1 - Departure:

We are doing our final prep before heading to the airport in a few hours but I wanted to start this thread while I still had access to a real keyboard.

 

We have a loooong day/night ahead of us flying from Southern California to Athens for the 4 day pre-cruise Classic Greece extension. It will be our first time in Greece and we are really excited to get the journey under way.

 

The weather is cooperating here today. The rainfall stopped yesterday and is not expected to resume until this weekend. For those unaware, a series of major storms caused by an atmospheric river has hit the West Coast and massive flooding has resulted. We live in the southern portion of the state and have been spared the worst of it. We also lucked out and missed the ground halt that happened to all US air traffic yesterday. Hopefully our trip to Athens will be uneventful.

 

I will update this thread periodically when the opportunities arise.

Edited January 12, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[Haworth]

Enjoy, Its a great trip, hopefully be able to keep up, we are boarding the Star next week

[stcroixguy]

Good luck with your flight.  Enjoy the trip.  I will be following. 

[miami mama]

We are doing the Athens 4 day extension also so will be very interested in hearing about your experiences on the excursions and in the city. Please let me know about the hotel and any restaurant recommendations you have. Have a great time.

[SantaFe1]

We will be on Med. Antiquities in mid-February.  In addition to the Athens hotel and restaurants, a report on the weather in those parts would be appreciated.  I have no idea what to pack for the Mediterranean in the winter.  Thanks so much!

[OneSixtyToOne]

24 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

We will be on Med. Antiquities in mid-February.  In addition to the Athens hotel and restaurants, a report on the weather in those parts would be appreciated.  I have no idea what to pack for the Mediterranean in the winter.  Thanks so much!

We’re are currently at LAX waiting for our flight to arrive. We arrive way too early as DW demands. In the meantime a 747 bound for Frankfort has arrived at our gate (see picture). It’s one of the last in the Lufthansa fleet. We’ll be on that particular plane later this year for our next cruise. That might be our last chance to fly on one. 
 

As far as Athens weather, I’ve been tracking it for a while and is similar to the climate we have in San Diego, which is also Mediterranean. Daily highs are in the 50s-60s, lows in the 40s. Periods of rain. Best to have a good raincoat/outerwear and dress in layers. I brought sweaters, long sleeve shirts, and a few polo shirts. I’ll tell you how I fare after we arrive. 

[Jim Avery]

747 is a great long haul ride.  Saddens me to see them go. 

[springtravel]

Can't wait to ready your posts, hopefully you have all the bad stuff. 

[SantaFe1]

10 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

As far as Athens weather, I’ve been tracking it for a while and is similar to the climate we have in San Diego, which is also Mediterranean. Daily highs are in the 50s-60s, lows in the 40s. Periods of rain. Best to have a good raincoat/outerwear and dress in layers. I brought sweaters, long sleeve shirts, and a few polo shirts. I’ll tell you how I fare after we arrive. 

Thank you.  We are originally from Los Angeles until retiring a few years ago, so I understand your point—although usually not so much rain.  I keep watching the weather in various ports, but although we are still a month out, luggage Forward wants our bags on Feb. 2.  So I need to make some decisions pretty soon.  Layers, I know, layers.  But we will probably arrive in parkas!  Enjoy you trip, and thanks for posting about it.

[Azulann]

So happy tot see this new trip report. I have been to Athens twice and love everything in their  Greek world.

Enjoy the food. 

Look forward to your posts. Safe travels.

[OneSixtyToOne]

Our boring Airbus A350 has arrived! 

[OneSixtyToOne]

Just boarded. Lufthansa is using face recognition for boarding. No more scanning boarding passes. Just stand in front of the camera and wait for the green light.

[floatsam sam]

3 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Our boring Airbus A350 has arrived! 

 

That's way harsh, OneSixty!

[SantaFe1]

1 hour ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Just boarded. Lufthansa is using face recognition for boarding. No more scanning boarding passes. Just stand in front of the camera and wait for the green light.

Wishing you a smooth flight and easy connections!

[OneSixtyToOne]

After the overnight from LAX we are in Munich awaiting our connecting flight to Athens. We were on the “screaming toddler from hell” flight so we got absolutely no sleep.

Munich is a great airport. No crowds and we cleared passport control in less than 3 minutes. Much easier than connecting thru Frankfort.
Looking forward to getting to our hotel in Athens so we can sleep.
 

[OneSixtyToOne]

Day 2 - Arrival, Sleep, or Lack Thereof

The sleep deprivation continued on our final flight, this time with a crying baby. Note to Torstein, consider starting a adult only airline.

Arrival at Athens was a breeze. We arrived a few minutes early at 5:50 PM. After claiming our baggage we found our Viking rep and driver waiting outside of baggage claim. Viking contracted with a private taxi to drive us to the hotel, large comfortable Mercedes Benz. We hit rush hour and it took almost an hour to get to the Athenaeum Intercontinental Hotel. If you are not using Viking Air, I suggest purchasing their transportation option. This would have been an expensive cab ride if we did it on our own.

The hotel is a very nice upscale business hotel. Lots of marble.

The Viking rep greeted us as we arrived. She was in the middle of doing an overview of the extension with 4 other guests. We were brought up to speed and provided some basic information with more details to come after we rest up. The extension is booked up so there will be 30 of us. Some of the events have changed days. Our free day was suppose to be Sunday but we will now be going to Delphi and the free day will be Monday. So anyone taking this extension, days are subject to change. If you plan to book an independent tour on the free day, plan accordingly.

 

As far as accommodations are concerned, we have a fairly large room that has a view of the Acropolis from the edge of the window. (see pictures) I did have to crop out the car dealership across the street. 
 

Right now, we’re too tired to do anything except turn in. Looking forward to breakfast which runs until 11:00 AM but we will be off at 8:00 for our first full day of sightseeing. More on that in a later post.

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

Day 3 - Still on California Time

It’s 5:00 AM in Athens and we’ve been up since 2:00. Looking forward to a hardy breakfast and our first excursion. Today we head to the Peloponnese peninsula.
 

For anyone planning or thinking about doing the Classic Greece Extension his is the pre-cruise itinerary. As I noted in a previous post, some events have switched days from what is published on the website.

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[SantaFe1]

3 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Day 3 - Still on California Time

It’s 5:00 AM in Athens and we’ve been up since 2:00. Looking forward to a hardy breakfast and our first excursion. Today we head to the Peloponnese peninsula.
 

For anyone planning or thinking about doing the Classic Greece Extension his is the pre-cruise itinerary. As I noted in a previous post, some events have switched days from what is published on the website.

 

Oh,  I remember well trying to adjust from pacific time.  I believe Athens is ten hours difference for you.  Wishing you a warm, sunny day!  The adventure begins.  And ours in just one month!!

[sugarside]

Beware later on first stop after Athens where the time is one hour ahead.

The ship remains on greek time ,referred to as ship’s time but your smart phone will  have moved on one hour automatically..Some people on our cruise had not heard about this  and got to breakfast and shore excursions etc at the wrong time.

Also your tour guide will be on turkish time so if they say meet back here at such a such a time double check with them.

Will also affect sail away time if you are exploring independently.

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

Day 3 - Continued…

Had an excellent breakfast this morning at the hotel. Large selection of items and great cup of regular coffee. They have a coffee bar in the back for those looking for something more exotic.

 

We met up in the lobby at 7:50 AM to start our tour. At first I thought the Blue Man Group was in town.

 

We boarded the bus and we were off to the Peloponnese peninsula and Corinth to view the canal that connects the Aegean Sea with Ionian Sea. It’s a 19th century engineering marvel that was built by the same company that constructed the Suez Canal. A canal was envisioned from ancient times where at this site ships were actually carted overland to save time and the avoid the danger of shipwrecks. Pictures don’t do it justice. It’s a spectacular view.

 

 

Next stop was the Mycenaean stronghold containing the site of Agamemnon’s palace. On the way we passed a fortress built by the Corinthians and is the largest castle in Eastern Europe.

 

On the way we passed along the plains of Argos and it became clear why this area has been fought over for millennia.  It‘s flat, fertile bottom land, unlike so much of Greece. The fields are filled with olive and orange trees. The oranges are all ripe making a brilliant splash of color on this green fertile valley. From the Mycenaean fortress the ruler controlled the valley below all the way to the sea and beyond.

When we arrived at the ruins the first stop was to explore a beehive tomb with the foreboding entrance and classic Mycenaean arch. The walls are blackened from fires built by shepherd taking refuge with their flocks

 

We then proceeded to climb the path to the fortress and entered through the massive Lions Gate, some of the oldest statues in the classical world.

 

Inside is the area where a gold burial mask was discovered and mistakenly attributed to Agamemnon. There is a copy in the adjacent museum but the original is in Athens.

 

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[OneSixtyToOne]

Day 3 - Continued…

More pictures from the fortress. 

 

We left the ruins for lunch at a local banquet hall called Agamemnon‘s Palace. Surprisingly the food was excellent. Sometimes the included lunch can be hit or miss but this was a home run. The desert was a sponge cake soaked with an orange sauce made from the local produce. Everyone raved about it.

After lunch we were off to Epidaurus to visit the finest Greek theatre still in use today. We were amazed by how well preserved it is. The tour guide demonstrated the 3 foci where sound is projected into the audience. During a play the actors will move to one of these spots to deliver their lines. 

Cheering from the premium seats. 

On top of the world

 

After visiting the amphitheater, it was back to the hotel via the coast road and some great views.

 

All in all it was a fabulous way to start our Classic Greece experience. As you can tell from the photos, the weather was beautiful. Temperatures were in the 50s and there were no crowds. Perfect for sightseeing. I highly recommend Greece in the off-season. Tomorrow’s weather is identical. We will be heading to Delphi which is a 3 hour ride into the mountains. I’ll be sure to wear additional layers.

 

Also worth mentioning, because this happened to be a weekend, there was very little traffic. The tour guides were amazed how quickly we were able to leave Athens. This might be the reason Delphi was moved up a day (from Monday to Sunday). If planning to book this excursion, you might want to consider a date that lands on the weekend.

Edited January 14, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[OneSixtyToOne]

Day 4 - Delphi

After breakfast we are heading to Delphi. Since it’s Sunday morning the streets of Athens are empty and we just happen to pass the Tomb of the Unknown as the changing of the guard was occurring. The bus driver was able to pull over on the empty street to allow us a photo op from the bus. 

 

More to follow after our 3 hour ride to Delphi.

[Haworth]

OneSixtyToOne, really enjoying your updates, we have done the Delphi and  Agamemnon trips on previous visits to Greece, great memories, thank you

[Australia08]

Enjoying your posts as a reminder of many of the sites we saw last month!

[OneSixtyToOne]

Day 4 - Delphi (continued)

What a fantastic day at Delphi!

After viewing the changing of the guard (see previous post) we headed off to Delphi. Even though we encountered light rain (and lighter traffic) on the way, our tour guide guaranteed that the weather would be perfect when we arrived. She was 100% correct. There seems to be a microclimate in the area and we arrived to plenty of sunshine and a temperature of 60 degrees.

On the road to Delphi

 

We passed through the tiny but social media savvy hillside town of #ARACHOVA

 

Once at Delphi, our guide gave an in-depth tour of the site, background history, and vivid descriptions of what we were seeing and how it looked in ancient time. Delphi was considered a sacred site and was neutral in all wars* (with the exception of 2 that were called sacred wars). Because of this neutrality it became almost like Switzerland, a place where treasures were brought and each city-state build a treasure house.

 

Athenian Treasure House

 

The path to the Temple of Apollo at the top of the site was once lined with statues donated by patrons, each trying to outdo one another. Only remnants of the pedestals remain.

 

At the temple of Apollo you could seek the answer to your question from the Oracle.

The sunken area near the back of the temple in the inner sanctum is where the Oracle was seated, inhaling vapors, and consuming sacrifices of burnt laurel leaves, while divining your fate. 

 

After some time exploring on our own, the tour continued at the museum which contains artifacts found at the site.

 

Tomorrow is our “free day” to explore Athens on our own. Slight problem. The Ex-King of Greece died this week and his funeral is Monday at the cathedral. Most of the Royals in Europe will be here for the private funeral, including Prince William and Kate, as well as the Royal Families of Monaco, Denmark, and Norway. Roads will be blocked off and 1000 police officers will be deployed. Sounds like a traffic nightmare in a city that is already congested.

Edited January 15, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne