Archaeological Site of Sounion, Greece
Our flight from Larnaca to Athens was an early one,
requiring a dawn start from Agia Napa. It got us into Athens International
Airport mid-morning. We immediately picked up my rental car which I’d be using
for the next three and a half weeks in Greece.
That gave us the day to explore the region around Athens together before
Rodrigo’s evening flight home.
The region of southeast Greece around Athens has been called
Attica since ancient times. Nowadays, it’s
Greece’s biggest concentration of population and industry, but you don’t have
to get too far from the city before there are mountains, vineyards, and resort
towns. The shore towns to the south and southeast of the city, collectively
known as the Athenian Riviera, are some of the most affluent places in the
country.
Besides its beaches and wineries, the main attraction of
Attica outside of Athens is the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, a popular
tourist day trip from Athens and considered a must see, especially for sunset. Sunset was not in our cards, so we hit it
first thing from the airport.
Situated at the southernmost point of the Attica
Peninsula on a bluff high above the sea, the Temple of Poseidon’s location is
as spectacular as the ruins themselves. Built of marble in 444 B.C., the same
year as the Parthenon, nowadays only 16 pf the temples slender Doric columns
still stand. That it’s incomplete
nowadays doesn’t make it any less impressive.
We continued back north along the coast known as the Athens
Riviera with stops for a big seafood platter at a seaside restaurant, last meal
of our trip together and then one final last gelato and coffee. Rodrigo and I
said farewell at the airport, his flight home to Mexico City via Istanbul on
Turkish Airlines. It was a fun three weeks together in Athens, the Cyclades,
and Cyprus.
2025-05-23