Ah, Athens!

The Hals family in front of the Parthenon!

Poseidon's Temple at sunset

View from the edge of the Acropolis

Daniel and me posing in front of the stunning Parthenon

Today we woke up feeling fairly refreshed and excited to have had a night of sleep and enjoyed a delicious breakfast from our hotel’s rooftop – which has a spectacular view of the Acropolis and the Temple of Zeus! After an early morning breakfast vote we decided that ultimately, we really did want to see the Temple of Poseidon and the coastline, so after a few attempts, I managed to dial out of our hotel and reached the tour company we were seeking and set up an afternoon tour. Our day was set: morning explorations of the Acropolis and the Ancient Agora, yummy lunch, and leave for Cape Sounion to see Poseidon’s Temple at 2.

We walked to the Acropolis and enjoyed the spectacular views of the city – it was a fairly clear, bright sunny day, and as we later discovered, we beat the crowds, because as we were leaving there were flocks of people heading up to see the Parthenon – and since it was Sunday, admission was free! (Which was actually a 16€ per person savings!) I still can’t get over how beautiful the marble is – and how much of it comprises the steps, blocks, pillars, benches, everything. It’s wonderfully smooth and cool and beautiful. We walked around the top of the Acropolis for over an hour, soaking in the spectacular views of the city, the Aegean, the olive trees, the Theatre of Dionysus, the ionic columns jutting into the blue sky, beautiful!

From there we headed down to the Ancient Agora – which had once been the civic and commercial center of Athens. We strolled through the beautifully green and lush foliage that grows around the ruins that are the fragments of the buildings that once existed and enjoyed imagining Socrates strolling through the Agora with his intrigued students at his side. After visiting the Temple of Hephaestus we headed back, meandering through markets and had a delicious lunch in the middle of Plaka that involved lots of pastas and fresh salads.

We headed back to the hotel and were soon off to Poseidon’s Temple. The views on the way were gorgeous, but the lull of our the bus and our tour guide’s voice made it difficult to stay awake and we each enjoyed a nap at some point on the heading out or returning trip. Poseidon’s Temple perches atop the Cape of Sounion, which dramatically juts out into the Aegean Sea. It was often the first major mainland sight for those coming from the islands and the Aegean Sea supposedly earned its name from King Aegean’s suicide as he hurled himself from the cliffs when he mistakenly thought his son (the minotaur slayer) had not returned home safely. The view truly was amazing, we were surrounded by water and islands and mountains and a majestic temple that omnisciently rests at this pinnacle point along the water’s edge. Beautiful.

After a long, rush-hour like (on a Sunday?) drive back, we regrouped and headed out in search of dinner. We found ourselves at a restaurant that Michael, Stephanie, and Gary have deemed “the best yet” and enjoyed another meal of Greek goodies – including! BAKLAVA! …and absolutely amazing baklava, I might add! We wrapped up our evening with a meandering, gelato stop (of course), walk back and spent the last thirty minutes looking through pictures, oohing, awing, and laughing pretty hard. Our first full day was definitely a success! Time to collapse, sleep, and gear up for another day! Tomorrow we are off to Mycenae!