Temple of Poseidon

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On my last full day in Greece the options of how best to spend the few remaining hours were many and varied. Eventually I decided that I wanted to go down to Cape Sounion, 70kms south of Athens to see the Temple of Poseidon, built in 444 BC. I also thought it would be nice to pack up a picnic lunch, especially given that Christos said he didn’t understand what a Kiwi picnic was. Communicating in English with Christos…..of course the only way I was able to…. was a source of constant amusement for me. I would blabber away and after a while would realise that Christos was looking at me with a bemused, somewhat lost look on his face. I would then say “do you understand?” and he would say with his very cute accent “ Noooo I don’t understand” and I would crack up laughing every time this happened……as they say ‘simple things for simple minds’. ….. or something like that.

Anyway Christos optimistically thought it would take us about 1 ½ to 2 hours to get there by car. Unfortunately even on a Friday morning Athens traffic is manic and it took 2 hours just to get out of the city.

The drive down the coast was lovely though. The weather was still being very kind to us, warm without being too hot or muggy. There were lots of beautiful little bays that were dotted with people swimming in them. I was, for some unknown reason, kind of expecting things to ‘green up a bit’ once we got into the country but it wasn’t too be. The Attica area is very dry and arid looking, but still very pleasant.

We arrived at Cape Sounion and the Temple to find it swarming with bus loads of tourists. After taking the obligatory photo shots we jumped back in the car and set off to find a good bit of quiet beach for ourselves and our picnic.

A short while later my natural curiosity and downright nosey ness lead us to discover a perfect little strip of beach that we had all to ourselves. The beach was small rocky pebbles, very similar to the beaches at Kina in Tasman, (top of the South Island) where I lived in 2001.

We made ourselves at home and Christos, being quite the wee water boy, took off for a good swim while I got down to the serious business of organising the food and more importantly, opening the wine. Once Christos returned I decided it must be about time for me to try the water. I have to confess that up until now I had not actually been in the sea in Greece. The water was cooler than in Croatia, and not quite as clear, but after the initial shock wore off I was able to lounge about in it quite comfortably…..as evidenced by attached photo.

We had a great time soaking up the remaining warmth of the sun then cruised back to Athens and reality in time for me to enjoy yet another ‘last supper’.

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