The ship docked early in the port of Piraeus

Unfortunately I had some minor gastric issues that morning

All self induced by over indulging the night before but it settled down by late morning

We decided to skip the sights of Athens and explore the local harbor of Microlimano

There we just a few taxis next to the ship and we asked the driver to take us the Microlimano

He said its a beautiful old harbor with great restaurants but very few tourists go there

He proposed a tour of the main sights in Athens before taking us to Microlimano for lunch at his favorite restaurant

We negotiated a good deal and he drove us into the city and we were pleased that the traffic was not so bad in the middle of the day

Our driver spoke perfect english and gave us a detailed guide of Athens

He parked frequently so we could step out to take pictures of the Panathenaic stadium, theAcropolis and the Parthenon

We did not enter any of these with long lines for tickets but we did get to see the city and the main sights on this drive by tour

Our driver dropped us at Zorba’s restaurant in Microlimano and we got a table overlooking the beautiful old harbor and we arranged for him to pick us up in a couple of hours

We had a delicious lunch of octopus salad, deep fried anchovies, green salad and fresh vegetables

A complimentary limoncello rounded off a memorable lunch

There was still time to stroll around the waterfront and soak up the atmosphere on a beautiful sunny afternoon

Our driver took us back to the ship and he gave us his contact information

He was confident that we would one day return to explore Athens in more detail

We made enough memories in four hours to probably prove him right