Cruising the Mediterranean

August 15 - 24, 2003

To see more of our cruise, click here. To go to our homepage, click here.

Our last Greek port was Athens. This was a very early morning visit, but we pulled it together and made it to the bus by 7:35. This was your classic bus tour, with a great two hour visit to the Acropolis.

On our bus tour we saw several important sites in Athens, including the guards outside the palace (below). Below on the right is one of the stadiums that will host the Olympics in 2004 (which happens to be the largest marble stadium in the world.). We saw lots of construction preparing for the Olympics and Will concluded "This city can't handle it." Nevertheless, Athens was actually not as bad as I had heard.

Back on the ship, we spent the afternoon and the entire next day lounging on the deck, learning new dances (Ellen and Lauren in the middle of the photo below), and relaxing. We played BINGO and chess  with Will's new chess set of made up of characters from Greek mythology. Will enjoyed the ship's specialty drinks and relaxed in his own way - playing Gameboy of course. Will also learned to love decaf cappucino (with 4 sugars por favore!)

By the way, the staff at Festival Cruises is very international. The woman below on the left is from Cuba, and the man is from France. They were a lot of fun.

Above left, Ellen and Lauren commandeer Will's new chess set. Directly to the left, Lauren and Ellen don't want to let go at bedtime! On the right, they enjoy lunch on their own after our tour of Athens.

To see more of our cruise, click here. To go to our homepage, click here.