We docked early this morning but after too much fun last night the kids had to be dragged out of bed. Our guide George, of George's Taxis (I'm guessing there are a few George's that work there) picked us up at the gate and gave us a quick tour of the Port of Zea before heading up to the Acropolis. Once at the foot of the Acropolis we met our tour guide, Dora. A teacher who has gone on to do her doctorate in Greek history we couldn't have been in better hands. She had the kids fascinated by the history of gods within a few words and kept us all enchanted for the next four hours.
Dora explained that the path to the modern path to the acropolis had been constructed to include history artefacts, like a sacrificial basin we stopped at. As we entered the Acropolis Dora explained to the kids about Nike and the wings, and how Athena the Nike had her wings clipped so that Athens would always hold victory and the Propylea. 
Dora showed us the temple to Hephaestus, husband of Aphrodite, where the city commemorated his role in the birth of Athena by splitting the head of Zeus with his Axe. She explained how the Erechteion was a memorial to the election of the cities patron between Poseidon and Athena. How Poseidon used his trident to strike the ground and make a spring of seawater to show the city how he would control the sea for Athens, and how in answer to this Athena gave the city an olive tree to depict the fertility she would bring to the city. Later in the museum Dora explained the depiction of the birth of Athena from the tablets in the ceiling of the Parthenon. 
From the top of the Acropolis Dora also explained the battle of Salamis (depicted in the appalling sequel to 300) where Athens held back the persians preventing their conquering of europe more broadly, the closeness of such a sea battle and the thousands of Persian ships in the sea at the time would have been as shocking for the Athenians.
Back down from the Acropolis we headed for the new Museum, Dora's close friends are on teh curation team and she holds a great passion for the symbolism of the building. She showd us how it reflects the architecture of the Acropolis itself, and how it had been cleverly twisted so that as you approach it the top story reflects back the image of the Parthenon and the lower levels twisted slightly more to capture the rock face of the Acropolis.
Inside Dora led the kids through a treasure hunt of the different depictions of Athena in her various guises and ultimately to the replica tables that explained the birth of Athena. Drenched in insight and knowledge we were very lucky to have such a passionate and knowledgable guide through the Acropolis and the Museum.
Back to our driver and we headed down into the city first to Haidrian's Arch, the Temple of Zeus and then the Olympic stadium. Next we toured through the heavily secured government area with the guards posted at the gates to the Prime Ministers house, then on to the parliament buildings. Eventually we went on to the Plaka for a lazy stroll and shop. We found our own little bit of Germany with kids hitting a pretzel and me finding a street side stall selling Paulaner! Eventually making our way through the afternoon traffic we made it back to the ship around 4pm, a 7hr trip around Athens we had originally planned for just 4hrs! Shattered we're off to dinner and bed in a flash - tomorrow we hit Kusadasi and Ephesus!