More adventures around Athens

Hadrian's Arch (or Gate) was constructed in 131 AD by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as part of a wall separating the old and new cities of Athens.

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The weather changed, very cool and windy.  Had to put on pants and long sleeves instead of a cotton dress.  Darn!

Ginny and I went to a tour office to get some ideas for tours.  Decided to do an afternoon tour to Sounion.  I spent the morning at Hadrian’s Arch and surrounding ruins.  There was another area next to this site that looked interesting.  But I never found a way in.  It may be an archeological site not open to the public.  But I did have an interesting walk through other parts of Athens.  What a crowded and busy city!

This ancient city has very modern transportation like these slick trains.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus

Also known as the Olympeion.

The foundations were laid in 515 BC then abandoned.  Work resumed in the 3rd Century BC, delayed again.  In the 2nd century AD the temple was taken up again by Hadrian who finally brought it to completion in 129 AD.

Took a different road back to the flat, oops, got sucked into a dress shop… looking for some nice cotton pants.  Ended up with gorgeous pants, top and a shawl-sweater.  Wore it all back to the flat.  When I arrived, Ginny did a double take, “that is not what you wore out of here this morning!”.  LOL!

Marion returned and we warmed up leftovers (in olive oil, of course) and had a nice Greek salad for lunch.  

Remains of houses and Roman Baths for 5th century BE to 2nd Century AD.

Olives!

Cute little resident.

A pomegranate!

Crazy traffic....

We walked to the pickup point for the afternoon tour.  Had a beautiful drive along the coast line to get to the southern tip of the Attica peninsula, overlooking the Aegean Sea.  The site of the ruins is high on a hill, it was cold and incredibly windy.  The ruins were fantastic.  So amazing that these structures have survived so many centuries!

Beautiful scenery as we rode the bus to Sounion.

Our guide pointing out some of the highlights.

Sounion is on the rocky peninsula that projects into the Aegean Sea at the south-east tip of Attica. 

The Athenians built sanctuaries to their two most important deities: Poseidon and Athena.

The temple of Poseidon, god of the sea, was built on the summit of the rock; two temples to Athena Sounias were erected at a lower level.

Beautiful drive back.  Then we met Jessica (from our WV trip) for dinner!!  We had a blast catching up on our last few days.  She and Sue had spent the last few days touring castles in Romania.  They went to the castles we visited several years ago when we went to Romania the first time.  They had a super time.

After our wonderful visit, we made a date to meet again the next night for dinner.

What a fun filled and packed day!

More fun tomorrow!