Poseidon Sunset

At the southern tip of this part of Greece sits Cape Sounio.  On a hill overlooking the sea are the ruins of a temple built for Poseidon, the "god of the sea."  It's supposed to a fantastic place to watch the sunset.

We've seen lots of ruins of ancient idol worship.  In glad they're in ruins.  My all the idols of my heart suffer the same fate!

The "golden hour" was intense, and Terry really blended in with the surroundings.  Turns out we were not supposed to be on these rocks, but we didn't know and got away with it for a few minutes.  

On Top of the World

Well maybe not the world, but the top of the Athenian Riveria.

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This was not a typical tourist destination. We had to drive up an insane road until it got a little hard to continue.  See our car below.  

Then we climbed the rest of the way on foot even goingnthrough this hole in a cell tower fence because it was an easier route.

But the view at the top was worth it!

We also enjoyed hanging out in the "Hellenic Hamptons" as this area is called - yachts, sailboats, heliports, spas, etc.  

Settled for as swim in the Aegean.  Love this place.  

Athenian Riviera

We both slept 12 hours straight when our heads hit the pillows that first night!  We woke up to a wonderful breeze and spent the morning having some quiet time on the balcony.

My name in Greek.  Still working on that alphabet.

We ate breakfast at noon (our host told us this is what the Greeks do - breakfast at noon, lunch at 4 pm and dinner at 10 pm).  Then we drove around the peninsula getting our bearings.

We saw the ruins of Poseidon's Temple (where we plan to go watch the sunset tomorrow):

I always enjoy getting close to the edge and making Terry nervous.

The water is so clear here.  We read that the water does not have the right minerals to sustain much plant life - so no algae.  Also no shells - just pretty rocks.  

We went to Lavrion which is a big ferry port.  We looked around at the marina but figured we couldn't afford to rent a yacht.  

Then we drove to a hill overlooking the town.

We saw quite a lot of signs of the economic woes of Greece.  Many buildings look like this one:

Then we went swimming and looked around the little town where we're staying.  It has a pretty little chapel near the beach.  These little churches are everywhere!  Most are too small to worship in.  People build them to show thanks.  Sort of a neat idea if it's not based in superstition.  

Love the blue and white of Greece! 

Great Greek Adventure Begins

Terry and I arrived in Greece at 9 am on Wednesday morning after a few hours of sleep on the plane.  Our plan was to push through the day and then get to bed early.

We will be in Athens when the rest of the group arrives so we wanted to just see an extra thing or two in Athens and then head south to get a little R&R on the coast.  We headed first to the Panatheniac Stadium - home of the modern Olympic games.  It was awesome with the Acropolis in the background.

We tried to see a monastery on a hill overlooking town, but it was closed due to fire hazard - at least that's what we thought the guard said.  Terry and I both feel quite illiterate here.  Apparently attending college in the south and being exposed to Greek signs on sororities and fraternities AND using quite a few lower case Greek letters used in upper level math and engineering was not enough to prepare us to read here! This may actually help us sympathize with the refugees we have come to help. 

So we drove to Anavissos where we will stay the next 3 nights.  We found this spot on Airbnb, and it is awesome! For $42 a night we have a private little house overlooking the Aegean. The little kitchen is even stocked with food. We headed into town and had supper on the beach and then took in the sunset.  

An old boat ramp.  Glad I don't have to back the trailer down this:

View from our balcony:

Great day!  Followed by 12 straight hours of sleep and a quiet morning on the deck.