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November 16, 2012 by TravelXena 1 Comment

Norwegian Jade Mediterranean Cruise Athens Greece

Norwegian Jade Mediterranean Cruise Athens Greece

Athens, Greece. You can visit over and over again but seeing the main sights are still breathtaking. I say this yet for 2 years in a row when I’ve gone the only place I’ve hit is the Acropolis which houses the Parthenon and the Temple of Athena and I haven’t revisited the places my mother and I went a few ago.  I shouldn’t say “only” as this landmark is iconic Athens, but the thing is I usually plan to see more but for about 3 hours every night on the Jade I find myself dancing, so by the evening before I’d decided to wake up when I wake up catch the HoHo bus when I was ready to leave.

You know what they say about assuming. Well I assumed we’d be at the exact same terminal in the port as the one that we were at last year. So I got off of the ship. Looked around and realized that this was no where near the same place as last time. Asked where I should go, the young woman pointed in the direction of what I thought might be an exit. So I walked, and walked and walked and  about 1/4 mile later realized that no, indeed if there was an exit there it wasn’t visible. So I turned around walked back and saw…a shuttle bus! We were at Terminal B in Piraeus and the side that I’d been previously acquainted with was Terminal A.

Note: When you come out of Terminal A. Make a left past the taxis and through the parking area and you’ll reach the sidewalk. There are 2 types of Hop On Hop Off  Buses that you can take. In most cities I usually opt for the Red one.

While waiting at the bus stop I met a fellow Cruise Critic member that I’d seen on the shuttle bus and met at the Meet & Greet. He told me that his wife had gone on a tour but he wasn’t up to it that early in the morning and thought he’d head out later on. I told him that this HoHo bus would take him where he wanted to go and so we both hopped on. When we reached the Acropolis we decided to stick together as travel buddies as it’s great to have someone around to take photos and hopefully I could point out the interesting things since I’d been there. Well I’m not much of a tour guide as my memory can be fleeting but we had fun walking around the Parthenon, Athena’s temple, and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. We didn’t have a whole lot of time left but decided to head down to the Acropolis Museum. Our ticket didn’t  give us a pass to go inside but we took photos of the ruins that were under the transparent walkway and area open to be able to view them below. While there he spotted a familiar face sitting down at the cafe attached to it, his wife 🙂

After another half an hour or so,  it was time to head back to catch the HoHo bus that would get us to the Pier on time.

We got back with plenty of time to spare and a was happy to see our smiling Cruise Director Gary Glading waiting there directing passengers to the shuttle bus. I’m still of the mind that Gary is actually a set of triplets that all go by that name because I’m really not sure how he manages to be in so many places at once. It seemed that within a few minutes of being back on the Jade I heard him welcoming passengers back to the ship. I know that it was longer than a few minutes but he does seem to work in a dual reality that allows him to transcend space time and be in multiple places at once.

I will write more about Mr. Glading later, but please check out the website regarding his wonderful animal sanctuary: http://www.hanalei-animal-sanctuary-onlus.com/

More photos to come!

All photos and written material copyright © TravelXena.com 2012

Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
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Acropolis Parthenon Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Parthenon Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Parthenon Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Parthenon Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Parthenon Athens Greece TravelXena.com
Acropolis Parthenon Athens Greece TravelXena.com
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Athens view from Acropolis TravelXena.com
Athens view from Acropolis TravelXena.com
Athens view from Acropolis TravelXena.com
Athens view from Acropolis TravelXena.com
Athens view from Acropolis TravelXena.com
Athens view from Acropolis TravelXena.com
Athens view from Acropolis TravelXena.com
Athens view from Acropolis TravelXena.com
Athens view from Acropolis TravelXena.com
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Beautiful Black Cat at the Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
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Parthenon Acropolis Athens Greece TravelXena.com
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Temple of Athena Acropolis TravelXena.com
Temple of Athena Acropolis TravelXena.com
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TravelXena-Temple-of-Athena-Acropolis-Athens-Greece TravelXena.com

Filed Under: Athens, Cruises, Europe, Greece, Norwegian Jade Tagged With: athens greece, cruise critic, hop on hop off buses, jade, landmark, last time, parthenon, photos, piraeus, shuttle bus, sidewalk, taxis, temple of athena, travel buddies, waiting at the bus stop, young woman

November 14, 2012 by TravelXena 7 Comments

Norwegian Jade Mediterranean Cruise Cruise Katakolon Chlemoutsi Castle Greece

Norwegian Jade Mediterranean Cruise Cruise Katakolon Chlemoutsi Castle Greece

Thankfully I’ve been fortunate enough to have taken this exact cruise on the Norwegian Jade (ship, itinerary, and even the same Cruise Director and Captain) a year ago. That gave me a chance to see Olympia Greece. The ruins, museum and shops in the area. This time I wanted to see things that I hadn’t seen before, so I arranged to rent an automatic car and drive around. At least what should have been an automatic car, and it was an automatic car, just not the kind that I’m used to as while it didn’t have a clutch you had to shift gears in order to speed up. More on that little red devil later.

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The Essence of a Map and my use of the word Catastrophe

We started out by heading outside and right across the street to the local car rental shop which I truly recommend. It cost €40 for the whole day and 4 of us rode in it. (Car rental contact email: diplasd@rentacarkatakolo.gr ) Add about €15 Euro for Gasoline (we were all over the place) and we were set! My plan was to see Chlemoutsi Castle, “J” wanted to see Mount Olympus and we thought of heading to Olympia as well but were told that since the Castle and Olympia were in two separate directions that was “not possible”. We found out that Mount Olympus was no where near us so we took the “essence of a map” that we were given and made our way to the Castle.

Ah the word essence is used here because the map is more like a partial map that gives you a general idea of the road you should take and then well, you’re on you’re own. If you have use of your smart phone while you’re away I’d recommend using it in order to save yourself driving around back and forth in the wrong direction. However if you’re up for a good adventure and enjoy getting lost with friends then take the ‘essence map’, good humor and start driving. The Greeks are warm people and will happily point you in the right direction so that you can find your way 🙂

Six year ago my mother and I went to Greece together and while on Santorini we rode with a Taxi driver that said “Catastrophe” with flair each time someone would do something on the road that he didn’t like, and so now it was my turn as I overtook cars “Catastrophe!”, as cars overtook me “Catastrophe!” driving my mates up a wall figuratively but thankfully not literally…until later.

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After a bit…after a while we made our way to the Castle. The last few meters consisted of making our way up a one lane hill where I had to pull off into someone’s yard twice in order to let two cars down. We finally came to the very top and parked. At least I thought I parked. I put it in park and pulled up the parking break. “S  the younger sister” and myself got out. “S the older sister” and “J” we preparing to, when…the car rolled back about 4 or 5 feet. I launched myself at it’s side (no I’ve no idea what that was supposed to accomplish) and thought “Oh my heavens NOOOOO”. It stopped after what seemed like forever but was probably 2 seconds. S&J got out looking startled and slightly shaken but not too bad considering.

Have you ever had something startling happen and then once it’s over feel the extreme desire to burst into laughter? Well for some reason that was what I felt like doing. To my credit I shut up, mostly because I valued my life but I didn’t not laugh yet for some reason out of sheer relief that was what I wanted to do!

Red-Fiat-Katakolon-Rental TravelXena.com

Once we got over that shock we paid the €3 to get inside. That undoubtable was the best €3 spent on the trip! The old Frankish ruins were almost larger than life. You could picture what it might be like 1000 years ago when it was being used, and yet somehow you felt as if you were on top of and at the end of the world. We were the only 4 exploring the castle at the time and it’s easy to see why. There is no way a tour bus could get to the top and I’m not sure if even a small tour van could. If you’re going to Chlemoutsi you rent a car and drive. Which means while very worth seeing you don’t have to worry about tons of tourists being there with you.

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After leaving there and nearly making it back to Katakolon “Aussie J” said that he reallllly wanted to see Olympia, and so with 2 hours left we head over the Olympia, where he and “S the older” took a quick 45 minute tour of the ruins and “S the younger” and I did some shopping for jewelry and grocery goods.

Just in case you’re wondering, yes we made it back to the dock on time…with 10 minutes to spare. 🙂

Video of Chlemoutsi Castle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKEoEk6Ut68

Chlemoutsi Castle – TravelXena.com

All Photos Video and Written Material Copyright TravelXena.com 2012

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Filed Under: Cruises, Europe, Greece, Katakalon, Norwegian Jade, Peloponnese Tagged With: automatic car, car and drive, castle, castle ruins, chlemoutsi, clutch, cruise director, frank castle, frankish castle, gasoline, gears, general idea, good humor, greek castle, greek ruins, greeks, itinerary, mount olympus, olympia, olympia greece, red devil, right across the street, right direction, ruins, santorini, smart phone, taxi driver, wrong direction

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