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The view from our room at the TWA Hotel at JFK (note some of the mid-century modern design elements)

And, we are finally home. We’re very happy that we stayed the extra day. We enjoyed our tour and had a good night’s sleep before the non-stop from Athens to JFK. Since our flight was at 12:15 pm, we didn’t have to leave the hotel in Rafina until 9:00 am. The shuttle ride only took 15 minutes so we were there a full 3 hours before flight time. It only took about 20 minutes to check our 1 bag and go through security, so the 3 hours in advance was overkill. However, since we were flying business, we headed to the generic business lounge that services Delta flights out of Athens. Our flight started boarding at 11:20. The flight back provided more service than our flight over (daytime flight versus overnight flight). I definitely didn’t feel like sleeping so I watched quite a few movies. When we arrived at JFK, we claimed our bag and headed over to the TWA hotel. We’ve been wanting to stay there, but the timing never worked out before. With our Athens flight scheduled to arrive at 4:30 pm (actually arrived about 3:30), and no onward flight to catch, we could finally try it out. While I don’t think that the hotel is reaching its full potential, I have to say that the architecture and nostalgia won us over. Mike and I are originally from St. Louis so the fact that Eero Saarinen had designed the building that was opened in 1962 was certainly a drawing card (Saarinen also designed the Gateway Arch). Even though our bodies felt that it was 7 hours later, we spent several hours touring the building, trying out the bars, investigating the rooftop pool (heated—though we didn’t swim, only watched planes taking off for a few minutes), and checked out all the nostalgia alcoves (a Twister room, a museum of TWA flight attendant uniforms--several by renowned designers, the room specially decorated as the Pope’s resting room when he visited NYC, etc). Our room was a terminal view room. It was a fun place to stay. We had breakfast in the Paris Cafe the following morning (extremely overpriced, but fun). By 11:00 am on Thursday, we were ready to check out and make the trek to our son’s house in NJ where we had left our car. After some family visiting time, we drove home, arriving late afternoon. I have a few overall comments about our Viking experience, but will address that in another post, probably tomorrow.

We were not on this trip, but we just disembarked the Viking Sky. Each time we dined in the Restaurant (arriving between 7:30 and 8:00), we felt there were too few servers. The servers were running from table to table, there was little relaxed conversation or suggestions about the menu. They seemed in a rush to take an order and “get going.” I think Viking is understaffing the Restaurant. We went after 8:00 a few times when there were very few diners remaining, but then you had the issue of servers then cleaning the dining room. I understand them doing this if there is no one dining in the section, but the spray cleaning bottles being used right next to your main course, is off-putting. The Restaurant was not a fine dining experience on our cruise.

They may be restocking by then. You’ll have to let us know what labels they have. Let’s hope they’ll have something good for the World Cruise! But we were told Woodford Reserve and Knob Creek Rye will not be stocked any longer.

Neither of these were available on the cruise we just disembarked - Viking Sky. We were told that Viking is changing their Bourbon and Rye options and are letting the present stock run out. It was slim pickings on our cruise in these categories.

The Greek theatre at the archaeological site at Thorikos There is evidence of a community here since Neolithic times. Presently, Bronze Age tombs are being excavated. The theatre was constructed in the 5th century BC. Mining galleries are scattered on the nearby slopes where silver ore was extracted. These silver mines produced wealth that allowed Athens to emerge as a leading power of the time.

Even a silhouette view is great.

Beautiful from every angle

Graffiti by annoying tourists - Lord Byron in this case (middle block, lower left)

Homer writes of the sacredness of the this area from at least the 8th century BC. The Temple to Poseidon was constructed between 444 and 440 BC on the foundation of an earlier archaic temple which had been destroyed during the Persian invasion.

Our approach to Cape Sounion You can see the Temple to Poseidon in the distance at the tip of the cape.

After we returned back to port, we headed to the ship to complete the dreaded packing process. We had a final dinner at Chef’s Table, then went to Torshavn to enjoy the Viking Band for a farewell dance and to see our favorite bartender, Bharat, for a farewell drink. We also said a goodbye for now to some new friends (Hi, Janis and Jeff, if you are reading this) who we hope to meet again on another travel adventure. This morning, we did not need to leave the ship until 9:00 since we were staying an extra day in the Athens area. That meant we had time for a leisurely breakfast at the Restaurant before departure. We heard horror stories of passengers leaving the ship at 3:30 am to go to the airport. That’s one reason we like arranging our own travel plans. We had arranged for Nikos, the tour guide that guided us on our Peloponnesus tour day the Friday before the cruise, to meet us at 9:00 am for a relaxing day visiting Cape Sounion, the silver mines very close to Sounion, as well as another fascinating archaeological site at Thorikos. Since we weren’t covering as much ground as our pre-cruise tour, we had time this morning to stop for some Greek “Christmas” pastries and coffee. After our touring, Nikos took us to a nice Greek restaurant for a late lunch and some interesting conversation about current controversial political issues for the Greeks. In the late afternoon, Nikos delivered us to our hotel at the port of Rafina. We have a nice seaside room this evening. The hotel provides a short shuttle ride to the airport for our 12:15 pm direct flight to JFK tomorrow afternoon. It’s been a great day.

Tasting at Skouras Winery - in process!

The vines near Skouras Winery

Part of the main wine cellar at Skouras Winery

An employee at Skouras Winery labeling their special 3 liter Christmas order bottles.

After leaving the site of the Nemean games, we traveled to a local winery, Skouras Winery, for a brief tour and tasting. First, we toured the area where some of the holiday wine labeling was occurring. Then we went down to visit the cellar. Like I said, it was a brief tour. Of course, most of us were really there for the tasting and our winery tour guide did an excellent job of introducing us to four of their wines - 2 white and 2 red. The whites were each 100% native grapes, the Moscofilero and the Assyrtiko. The first red was one of their favorite native grapes, the Agiorgitiko, St. George grape. The other red we enjoyed was a blend of the Agiorgitiko and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Closer view of the stadium starting line

Inside the stadium at Nemea The stadium was constructed between 330 and 320 BC. It was 600 ancient feet long. The starting line consisted of a line of stones which included a starting mechanism allowing athletes to have consistent fair starts. At each end of the starting line was a judge’s podium.

The Apodyteirion, locker room This is where athletes prepared for their upcoming competition (undressed, rubbed their bodies with olive oil). From here they passed through a vaulted tunnel to enter the stadium.

The Baths at Nemea Athletes would return from competition to this building to scrape the combination of oil (they oiled their bodies with olive oil prior to competition), sweat, and dust from their bodies before descending into the bathing chambers which were fed by an aqueduct that ran from a nearby spring.

In the museum, we saw many artifacts found at this site of the Nemean Games and this nice diorama to give us an idea of the appearance of the area during ancient times.

Those columns are tall (although not as tall as the columns we saw at the Temple of Apollo in Didyma, Turkey).

The Temple of Zeus at Nemea

Yes, it is Tuesday and we are now off the ship. Most of you know how much you try to pack in the last few days of a cruise, especially on such a short 10-day cruise. I’ll attempt to catch up a bit now. Monday morning, we were in Nafplion. This is a beautiful port city at the southern end of the Peloponnese. We were happy we had been here before the cruise started since it was a bit cool and misty. We had planned to climb up to the Palamidi Fortress in the afternoon, but by the time we returned from our morning tour, heading back to the room to pack seemed the wiser choice. Our morning excursion was to Nemea, the site of a competition similar to the Olympic Games, but smaller and conducted every two years. It was about a 45 minute bus ride from the port to Nemea. Although rain threatened, we did not actually have any raindrops, only clouds. The Nemean Games were one of four Greek festivals to be elevated to Panhellenic status. The Temple of Olympian Zeus was originally constructed here in the early 6th century BC, was destroyed at the end of the 5th century BC, and finally reconstructed in 330 BC. Also constructed at that time was the Xenon (guest house), the Baths, and the dining areas. By 271 BC, the games were transferred to Argos. Emperor Theodosius banned all pagan activities in 453 AD and at that point, a systematic destruction of the Temple of Zeus began.