Explorations

Yesterday was the free day for the class so we didn’t have any class meeting time. A group of us took a trip up to Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon. We packed a lunch and headed out to catch a bus for an hour and a half ride down the coast. The bus ended up being a little late due to the heavy traffic of downtown Athens which was especially bad due to the expected demonstrations later that day. As a result most of the public transportation was shut down and a large majority of the shops were closed as well. But one member of our group, Jessica Dexter, ended up making friends with a police man from the riot bus that was parked directly in front of the bus stop and he informed us that the bus was just late due to heavy traffic. Fun Fact: It really pays to be blond in Greece; you make very fast friends. Anyways the bus came soon after and we were then on our way!

We arrived at Sounion around 12:30 and set about exploring. The Temple is located on a cliff overlooking the sea as befitting for the god of the oceans and there is an adjacent cliff that stretched out opposite the temple. This opposite cliff is where we explored. Being the awesome adventurers we are, Markelle Lance and I decided to go the whole way and see if we could get right down to the water. It turns out we could and after conquering a very steep incline, we were able to achieve our goal!! Success!!

We had the best view all along the coast and Markelle was able to touch the water from the rock we were standing on.

This reminded me of my explorations I used to go on when I was younger, half a world away in Cannon Beach, Oregon. Except without the sand. After snapping a few pictures we headed back to the group to eat lunch and tell our tale of adventure. Several of the others were eager to go back so after eating a sandwich we headed back. Our exploration this time took us much further along the shoreline back to where the rest of our group could actually see us. They were sitting at the edge of the cliff reading and talking but there is a little bit of a gap between the cliff and the sea and that was what we were exploring. We went as far as we could go and then headed back up the slope to rejoin our group.

We then caught the bus and headed to a beach at a town we had passed on the way to Sounion. We stayed in town for a few hours and had coffee and crepes at a local café. While we were waiting for the bus to come back and pick us up we watched a beautiful sunset!

The bus then took us back to Athens and we were going to grab dinner at the Hard Rock Café Athens. But the bus did not go in the direction we thought it did and we ended up in a sketchy area of Athens that we had been through the day before. So we headed back in the direction of Parliament Square because we would then know where we were once we got there. The walk took about 15 minutes but we made it in one piece. We then headed to the Hard Rock Café because a lot of us were hungry from a long day. I ordered a hamburger because I decided to eat American for once on the trip.

And it was delicious.

After dinner we headed home which concludes on of the best days I have had in Greece so far!!!