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| The Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion as seen from afar. |
According to legend, Theseus was meant to fly white sails upon his return by sea to Cape Sounion to signal his success in overcoming and slaying the Minotaur of Crete. Black sails would herald failure and Theseus’s death. His father, King Aegeus, watched for Theseus’s return and upon spying the black sails, overcome with grief, he leapt from the cliffs to his death, unable to bear the bad tidings. Sadly, in his haste to return home, Theseus had forgotten to change the sails and had unwillingly caused his father’s death. Thus the Aegean Sea earned its name.
The present day temple is actually a 444 B.C. rebuild of the original temple which was destroyed during the second Greco-Persian war in 480 B.C. Today it is a revered and well-visited site of Ancient Greek history drawing international tourists and Greek nationals alike. Experiencing the sunset over Cape Sounion at the Temple of Poseidon is a magical experience that is not to be missed.
Spiros, our driver for the day (Bill had a mechanical issue and had to take his car to the shop), picked us up at 3:30 this afternoon and first took us to see a mysterious spring-fed natural spa lake. It is apparently a constant 25〬C year-round. Nobody knows its source as the depth of the spring is too deep to measure. 7€ will pay for the privilege of a day’s swim. We didn’t bring our bathing trunks.
A 45 minute drive along the coast brought us to Cape Sounion and Poseidon’s Temple, overlooking the Cape. Arriving just an hour before sunset, we climbed to the top of the hill and were treated to a very windy and almost private viewing of this archaeological landmark. There were only 5 other people at the site. Shooting about 100 photos from every possible angle and tracking light shifts, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. As a bonus to the experience, I may or may not have photo-bombed a couple of the other visitors up there. I can neither confirm nor deny that information.
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| It is not permitted to hunt quail on this site so they come here to breed in relative safety. |
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| approaching the site |
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| side view |
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| other side view |
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| The only thing keeping you from falling off the edge is your common sense -the wire sure won't do it. |
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| one more side view |
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| The sun starts to sink |
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| Cape Sounion |
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| one more view |
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| The sun starts to sink below the Temple of Poseidon. |
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| The view from across the way. |
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| The view from farther across the way. |
On our way home we stopped at a water-side restaurant for a very tasty and extremely unhealthy dinner of tzatziki, deep fried zucchini, deep fried calimari, a plate of some small fish that I made Mr. U eat (I just couldn’t do it...entire fish, heads, tails and all...GROSSS!) and a grilled octopus tentacle each. Strangely I had no problem eating the octopus tentacle. It was kind of cool once I get over the thought that the suckers might still work (they don't, by the way). We watched the sun sink just below the horizon during our meal and enjoyed the calm night. Tomorrow we pack up and check out, heading back to Moscow and “the daily grind”. The sunshine has been a rare pleasure and the rest & relaxation and discovery over the course of the past week were much-needed and much appreciated.
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| our dinner venue |
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| Spiros (He had a full-on New York accent in English -too funny!) |
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