More History

In the previous post, I mentioned the letters that my great great uncle sent to his sister (my great grandma)- this is one of my favorites- 90 years old now, and the longest of the letters he wrote home, and I'll copy it as it was written, errors and all.
Sent from Piraeus, Greece, on April 29, 1920.
Dear Sister & Bro: We arrived here all OK on the 18th inst. We were one month in making the passage, having stopped at Las Palmas, Canary Islands, for fuel en route. There are a lot of interesting ruins here that are open to inspection and I have been doing the tourist act. Giving the place the bifocal as it were.
The ruins are said to date back considerable BC & some of the would be modern things are modeled very closly after the antique. Speaking of the antiques, on the way from Piraeus to Athens, (which is about 20 mins. ride on the electric) there can be seen the old horse walking around the well, at the end of the boom, that raises water, very similiar to biblical times, say, and probably is the same well as used at that time but it is a different horse in this case no doubt.
There was an American Battle Cruiser in here the other day, when she arrived she received a royal salute from the Port's guns. The Admiral, who is taking a farewell trip around Europe before retiring, landed with his own auto on the barge. Pretty Classy!
This place is over run with soldiers or rather officers, as they do not maintain much of a standing army, but keep the officers standing by.
There are a lot of queer ducks floating around dressed in white tights, short kilts, small fez on their dome with long tassel pendent & on their pedal extremities they have rather long shoes upon the upturned toes of which is superimposed large woolly balls about 4 or 5 inches in diameter --- get the vision?
I am informed the garb is Crete, or Creteschion or what ever it would be from the Isle of Crete. The Kings Guards themselves are dressed in this manner the mode ensemble being modified slightly to form a military uniform.
I stood near the Stadium, where the first Olympic Games were played some time ago, & watched the setting sun slowly fade from view in all its rosy glory behind the ruins of the ancient Acropolis, said ruins being silhouetted against the sky line together with the trees & buildings of the Kings Palace & garden in the near foreground. Truly beautiful!
You didn't kno I had an eye for the aesthetic did you? But now, shifting the scenes to one of the more commonly used streets of the city, as you sauter along, viewing things with interest more or less pronounced you hear smells, smells from the left of you, smells from the right of you, smells, smells, smells, they thunder & rumble.
This is due in part to the lack of running water for sanitation & in part to the peoples attachment to the well known fruit, sometimes spoken of as the Grecian Lily, Garlic. But be that as it may--
I do not kno exactly when we shall leave here the date will depend largly upon whether we secure a return cargo or not. It will probably be about the middle of next week. The return journey will consume at least 20 days.
Hoping you are all OK & your Spring work coming along fine
I am, your Bro- RSH

Among the letters I found these receipts. Notice the prices from April 1942.