Ocean Princess sailed into Piraeus Harbour at dawn this morning. Sunrise (33) over the Greek Islands is a magic moment. Piraeus is the main port for Athens and the largest seaway access to the Greek Islands. Despite the economy in Greece, the port is very busy with large ferry ships including Anek, Blue Star, Minoan, Hellenic Seaways and other passing in the channel actually right past our stateroom window.
Several large container ships entered the port this AM but business now does not seem to be at the scale of activity we witnessed in 2010. There was a Russian war ship parked in the cruise terminal area.
Our exploration choice today was to travel around the Piraeus peninsula on the Hop On Tram and take in the Archeological and the Maritime museums. Though not to the scale of what is at the Acropolis, these museums were never the less very interesting. Much of the artifacts displayed here were recovered over the years from the harbour or dug up at buried sites in this area. The largest ancient bronze sculpture of the Greek God Apollo (102) was found here.
We came across a small bay with sea side restaurants and the most expensive private yachts imaginable. Actually there were probably more yachts at Puerto Banus but that is another story. We thought we might be able to put in a low ball offer on one modest unit (125) that was for sale.
Today was also a day to restock on things like tooth paste and shaving cream. The cruise ship parked ahead of us is the Pacific Princess - our sister ship - an identical twin to the Ocean Princess.