Movies on the flights

And I watched three movies. If you haven't seen them, here is what I think.

Philomena: I loved it. Surprising twists. Interesting story. The lesson on forgiveness is so powerful.

Saving Mr. Banks: Almost as good as Philomena. Great human story.

Wolf of Wall Street: Like watching a car accident. I couldn't look away because I knew it was true.

In Amsterdam

Got up early, took the train to Centeal Station in the old city. Found our red city- sightseeing bus. Were in line for the Anne  Frank Haus by 9:30. The line was already 2 hours long. Did take a picture from the outside.

So got back on red bus and went to Van Gogh Museum. That was great. Although Sunflowers is in London. Exhibit was organized to show how his painting developed. It included his last painting. No pictures of course. Then we rode the rest of the route. Old city is only 600 years old. Here is an interesting picture showing canal and typical building. 

Train ride back to Schiphol. Lunch. And we are at the gate. 3€ left. And 400 pictures you haven't see. Paul/Dad, get out the sheet for a screen!

Travel day

Slept in. Repacked. Are in Omonia Square one more time. Headed to Athens airport and flew to Amsterdam. We are in an Americanized Novotel for the night. We have a plan for tomorrow to get up early. Take the shuttle back to the airport. Put bags in a locker. Take the train into Amsterdam. See at least the Anne Frank House. Get back to the airport to fly home. We realized we could not plan this part of the trip because we did not know what shape we'd be in. But we are still standing. 

End of Athens

After we got off the ship and checked in and took a nap, we were back on the red sightseeing bus. We stopped at Hadrian's Gate from Roman times around 100AD. The cool thing about this picture is that you can see the Acropolis through the arch in the top left.

We also saw the temple to Zeus with 12 of the over 100 columns still standing. You can also see the one that was toppled in the 1700's by a big storm. The one fourth of Athens around these columns was all built up until the 1960's when the land was acquired for archeological digging. 

Finally we saw the 1896 Olympic stadium. It looks positively modern. 

This post should be before Best laid plans 2

Best laid plans 2

Got off the ship and found Greek hotel. No heat but all else we need. Not sure about Internet. Wanted to see Athens at night so set off on tour bus. BTW we haven't seen any news so knew nothing about yesterday's car bomb. All of a sudden streets are blocked and the tour went to end and pushed us off. By then subway closed. Bus driver got us close and pointed us how to walk. Here's what made him give up.

 Those are police buses blocking the street. 

German Prime Minister Merkel is in town and no protesting allowed. Eating dinner and then in for the night. Will post today when we are in airport tomorrow. 

Santorini

A interesting island. Until the 1700's it was a large volcanic island. The volcano erupted and sank into the sea leaving 5 much smaller islands. We were ashore for 4 hours. There is only one spot where the cove is shallow enough to drop anchor. We got there first and claimed it. Tender to shore with 3 choices to get up to the town - cable car, donkey, and foot. The foot route is a bit of a problem as it is the same path as the donkey path. We rode the cable car up. You can see all the different layers in the rock that form and then exposed with the eruption. It is amazing to be up here:

To get down Erica had to ride a donkey. We were sure it would be fine because we had seen this sign. 

We have left Santorini and gotten our passports back. Just have to pack and plan leaving the ship early tomorrow back in Athens. 

The Greek isles are incredibly beautiful. Traveling in April is great. The weather is cool and everything is not so crowded as it must be when there are 5 cruise ships in port instead of 1. One last picture.

Crete

Instead of a tour we went with Christos in his taxi. He owns the taxi and 78 olive trees. Up until a few years ago he supported his family well. Now it is hard. He has a wife, 15 year old son and 21 year old daughter. He was great and showed us lots of his island. Look at the hillside covered with olive trees. 

He took us to the ancient city of Knossos. It was first excavated in 1878. We are learning about how the early archeologists basically messed up what they found. This city existed 4000BC. Are you kidding me?

Then he gave us a tour of the port of Herkalon with its wall built by the venetians, churches, and showed us how they harvest olives. 

Trying one more picture.