We typically arrange our own international flights but this time relied on the cruise company (Viking Ocean) to handle all flight details. As a result, we had little choice in the flight selection and ended up with three flights to get from San Francisco to Athens, with a five hour layover between the second and third flights. First, a United SFO to Newark domestic flight, next a 90 minute international flight from Newark to Montreal and, finally, a long non-stop AirCanada international flight from Montreal to Athens. On the positive side, we had lie-flat business class seats on the first and third flights and we also had airline lounge access in San Francisco, Newark and Montreal.
After settling into our Athens Marriott hotel room ($300/night), we took COVID tests using a moderated eMed service. Documentation (QR code) indicating a negative COVID test was required for us to board the Viking Sky vessel in Athens. This ship would take us to Katakolo, Corfu, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Split, Venice, Silbenik, Bari, Crotone, Messina, Naples and Civitavecchia. At the embarkation pier, staff actually reviewed and confirmed our negative test paperwork.
As we've been to Athens a couple of times, we limited our pre-cruise Athens visit to only one full day. We pre-purchased tickets to the Acropolis Museum. This archeological museum opened in 2009 and contains over 4,200 artifacts from the Acropolis of Athens. The museum has three floors with many displays to draw your attention. Our pre-purchased tickets were for 10am and it is recommended to start early to avoid the crowds that continue to build as the day progresses. We focused on viewing selected items, including:
- First Floor
- Karyatids
- Head of statue of Alexander the Great
- Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes
- Loutrophorus Vase and other ceramics
- Parthenon Gallery
- Pandrosos and Kekps
- South Metrope 1
- West Frieze Block
- Archaic Acropolis Gallery
- Kritos Boy
- Antenon Kore
- Calf Bearer
- Persian/Scythian Rider
If you're visiting this museum, be sure to save some time to visit the excavation of an ancient Athenian neighborhood (7th to 9th century AD) directly under the Acropolis Museum. There is a great video in the excavation area showing how the Acropolis Museum was constructed over the recovered ruins while also protecting the ruins.
The museum has a cafe on the ground floor. The cafe offers salads, sandwiches and hot and cold beverages. We opted to visit the cafe for a light lunch. There is also a more full-service restaurant on the second floor that provides great views of the Acropolis and surrounding hillside.
We wanted to avoid dealing with transportation to dinner as we were still tired from the international travel. A short walking distance from the Athens Marriott is Arsenis Taverna, a small family run restaurant. It had very good dining reviews in TripAdvisor and very reasonable prices for traditional Greek dishes. Our dinner consisted of toasted bread with Tzatziki dip, grilled snapper, moussaka and baklava, all accompanied by local beer.
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center
The Athens Marriott is a good pre-cruise hotel location. A taxi from the hotel to the Acropolis is about 10 Euro. From the hotel to the cruise terminal at the port of Piraeus runs about 20 Euro. The hotel is used by several airlines for crew lodging and Viking Ocean for cruise guests.
As we were waiting for a mid-morning taxi to the pier, we walked across the street from the Marriott, into the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Park and Cultural Center. The Center is a recreational, arts and and education complex and home of the Greek National Opera.
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