Athens: Acropolis and Nat archaeological Museum

[Scarlotte]

We are doing HAL Veendam in April.

 

In Athens the ONLY two things I want to see are the Acropolis and the archaeological Museum. None of ships tours include the archaeological museum; and the ship "transfer only" allows 2 hrs 20 minutes in the city (ridiculous, considering it will be there for 6 hrs!!!).

 

Are there non-ship shuttles from the port into Athens. OR....

It appears the underground goes to Piraeus

http://www.cretetravel.com/Athens/Athens_mini_guide/Athens_mini_guide-Metro_map.htm

 

How far from the dock is the metro? Is it walking distance or is there transportation to metro?

How long is the metro trip into Athens.

If we took the metro, is it reasonable to get off at Thissio (so we don't make a lot of transfers).

 

Getting to the Nat archaeological Museum: It appears it is about 2 miles from the acropolis to the museum. We don't want to wear ourselves out with unnecessary walking. Is there a metro stop near the museum?

 

Thank you for any information.

[Denn33]

We're also cruising on HAL this summer, and I also thought it was ridiculous that their transfer gave you only 2.5 hours (and we're in port for 10 hours!)

 

This page has directions on getting to athens by the train.

http://www.europeportreviews.com/Athens3.htm

There were also some recent posts from the last few weeks on this board about this.

[Susan-M]

We took the metro from Piraeus into Athens - it's a 25 minute walk to the station from the dock, but there is a local bus that you can take (sorry, not sure which one, but I've seen it mentioned in previous posts.)

 

The metro in Athens is the nicest one we've been on - very clean, modern, user-friendly .... and even has museum type displays in Syntagma station. You can get English maps in the stations. And for 3E/pp for the day, it's quite a bargain.

 

I'm not sure how far of a walk it is from Thissio station to Acropolis ... we opted to take the green line to Omonia and transfer to the red line (just one transfer) and then 3 stops to the Acropolis. When we emerged from the station, we were right at the base of the Acropolis.

 

You can take the subway from the Acropolis to Victoria Station (red to green line, transfer at Omonia) to go to the museum. It's a 5 minute walk from Victoria Station:

http://www.athensguide.com/museum.html (we had to ask directions after emerging from Victoria station since our map wasn't the best).

 

To give you an idea of times involved.... it took us about 1 1/4 hours from the time we left the ship until we arrived at the Acropolis. We spent approx. 2 hours there including the Acropolis museum. From there we wandered around to see other sites, and didn't arrive at Archaeological Museum until close to 2. The museum is worthy of a full day (or two) but with Rick Steves "highlights of the museum" we were able to do a condensed visit. Allow another 1 1/2 hours to return to the ship...and add an extra half hour for safety.

 

Enjoy your day in Athens :)

[Scarlotte]

Denn and Susan:

 

Thank you SOOOO much for your reponses. :) Those were most re-assuring. I was so depressed when I thought I'd have to do everything in 2 1/2 hrs.

 

Scarlotte

[Susan-M]

Denn and Susan:

 

Thank you SOOOO much for your reponses. :) Those were most re-assuring. I was so depressed when I thought I'd have to do everything in 2 1/2 hrs.

 

Scarlotte

 

You're welcome .... 2 1/2 hours is way too short for Athens! Scarlotte, how long is your ship in port that day?

[Scarlotte]

Hi Susan:

 

The ship arrives at 7 a.m. and departs at 6 p.m. The brochure on ship tours has 4-hr tours that do acropolis and city (one does the Benaki museum; but the Nat Arch has all the famous goodies). They also offer a transfer only to Athens; but it is only 4 hrs total; and they say you have 2 1/2 hrs in Athens. I have to believe once we get on the ship they have to offer something better; but I want to go prepared.

 

It sounds like you guys did exactly what I want to do. Even Rick Stevens' write-up says the 2 must sees are the acropolis and Nat Arch.

 

Thanks again for the info. It was most re-assuring.:)

[Susan-M]

Hi Susan:

 

The ship arrives at 7 a.m. and departs at 6 p.m.

 

Hi Scarlotte - that will give you enough time to go to the Acropolis and Archaeological Museum on your own and even a stroll between Acropolis and Syntagma on your way to the museum if you want some extra exercise.

We were in port from 7 - 11 (left at 8 a.m. and returned to the ship around 7:30 .... exhausted, but thoroughly enjoyed our day in Athens.) I'm surprised that the ship doesn't offer longer "on your own" trips, but maybe the demand isn't there. Or, as you say, maybe the offerings will be better once you are on board.

[inlovewithlilacs]

thanks for this detailed info. think I'll go for the train to the Acropolis, too. I

've heard that the Museum of the Agora is quite wonderful as well.

[kestrel]

We were to take metro from the port to Acropolis. But on the way to metro station, we found a taxi that would take us to Acropolis with reasonable rate. We took the taxi, and it allowed us to arrive early to "beat the crowd."

 

After Acropolis, we walked down to Agora. From there we took the metro to visit National Archaeological Museum. We spent several hours there before going back to the cruise.

[Ka Honu]

We were to take metro from the port to Acropolis. But on the way to metro station, we found a taxi that would take us to Acropolis with reasonable rate.

 

Do you recall the rate for the taxi (approximately)? Thanks.

[kestrel]

Do you recall the rate for the taxi (approximately)? Thanks.

 

Sorry, I don't remember the amount. It was in 2005. But it was something like 20 Euro (?) per taxi for our entire family (5 members). I think the "trick" is not to hire taxi near the cruise terminal. We walked around 5 or 10 minutes towards the metro station. There were plenty of taxis on the street. You can negotiate the price first. If it's too expensive, then you either ask other taxi drivers, or continue your walk to the metro station. You got nothing to lose.