Athens Day-Trips: Sounion

The Temple of Poseidon

The Temple of Poseidon at Sounion is the best half-day trip you can do out of Athens with the possible exception of the Zoo . That is why I was kind of embarrassed when I realized I had not been there since I was dragged there by my high school ancient history teacher, the now famous Nikos Stavrolakis (see www.greecetravel.com/jewishhistory ). I remember seeing the column with Lord Byron's name carved in it, or at least I think I remember. Maybe I read that it was there in a book. What I really remember was throwing rocks from the temple perched high above the sea and trying to reach the water. You had to have a really good arm to do it and be in the right spot and have the perfect rock. Now I think of how frustrating it must have been for Mr. Stavrolakis. Here he was teaching ancient Greek history in Greece to a bunch of American kids who were lucky enough to be able to go to the actual places he was teaching about and all we wanted to do was chuck rocks off the cliff and pretend to throw each other over the side. I suppose we did not appreciate what we had. To make it worse I had gone for years without visiting Sounion because in my mind I had already been there though I could not even separate what I had seen from what I had read in some book.

So when my friend Ana Kamais invited me to come with her to buy bathroom appliances for her new house on a beautiful sunny warm day just after Christmas, I knew that she would want to continue on to the sea, hopefully as far as Sounion. With many Athenians out of the city visiting their villages it would be an easy journey, despite the beautiful weather that usually makes them escape to the seaside in droves. Within 20 minutes of buying her sink we (and the sink) were in the coastal town of Anavassos, famous for its seaside fish tavernas. We found the one most likely to have good food and sat down in the outdoor dining area by the shore. There was still a chill in the air so rather then having their tables in the open they were under a big tent with the wall facing the sea being clear plastic. It was not the clearest plastic but you could still sort of tell you were looking at water and you could hear the waves. If the Queen Mary sailed into the bay you might have had trouble distinguishing it from a low storm cloud but still it was a nice atmosphere and the food was good though in late December the fish menu is limited because of a lack of customers. There was plenty to keep us happy though...fried fresh kalamari and marides and marinated fresh anchovies and I celebrated my escape from the city with a glass of ouzo.

As you leave the coastal suburbs of Athens you pass towns and settlements, mostly in bays, harbors and beaches. Some Athenians have built their summer and weekend homes out here and villages have sprung up out of nowhere. But the closer you get to Sounion on the tip of the Attiki peninsula the less houses there are until finally you come to a few hotels and a nice little beach with two tavernas. The temple of Sounion sits above the beach on a mountain that juts out into the sea and was dedicated to Poseidon. In ancient times the temple was the last sign of civilization the Athenians saw as they sailed away from home and the first as they returned and even now when I sail to the islands on the ferry it is not until we pass the temple that I am 'offically' out of Athens. The choice of this spot was a good one. It is hard to imagine a more perfect setting for an ancient temple, in particular one dedicated to the god of the sea.

The temple is of Doric style and was built in the 5th Century BC, supposedly on the location of an even older temple. You are not allowed to enter the temple any longer and it is roped off but you can get close enough to appreciate it and even read the graffiti carved on the ancient columns, some of it hundreds of years old. Lord Byron is in there somewhere and if you have binoculars and a camera with a large zoom you can get a photo of it as did traveler Steven Christensen did: Lord Byron's Graffiti. Once you get up there you will understand how it is possible that a class full of 9th graders could be so distracted and the temple could hold our interest only fleetingly. The view is incredible. You can see the islands of Kea, Kythnos and clear over to the Peloponessos with ships and fishing boats passing by.

Below the temple is a small bay with a the Hotel Aegean and two nice little fish tavernas which were both lively and though we did not eat there the food looked great. The Akroyiali is right on the water and a good place to watch the sunset. Taxi drivers say the upper taverna is better. Frommers says to come to Sounion in the morning and avoid the crowds but I may have to disagree. I think putting up with the crowds is a small inconvenience for seeing such an incredible sunset.

If I were to do it again I think I would skip the shopping for the bathroom fixtures and go straight to Sounion. Then I would go down to the beach and swim, have a drink and mezedes at the taverna on the beach and wait for the sun to go down and the show to begin. Then I would sleep all the way back to Athens and be ready to go out that night. Or maybe I would just stay and have dinner there.

Getting to Sounion

To go to Sounion I recommend George the Famous Taxi Driver . You can see the temple, go to the beach, have a meal by the sea, have a drink and if you are up to it stop for dinner on the way home in Vari, the grilled lamb and pork capital of Athens for a feast. (My friend Nikos says "In America you have Silicon Valley. In Greece we have Cholesterol Valley") It may not be the healthiest thing for you but it sure tastes good and after all this is a vacation and not a way of life. Not yet anyway. There is information on Vari on my Athens Restaurants page. Also there are a number of excellent fish tavernas in the town of Anavissos, on the way to Sounion. You can also go to Sounion on one of the half-day trips offered by the travel agencies. See www.athensguide.com/agency.html or go to www.fantasytravelofgreece.com and click on 'organized land tours'. There is a bus to Sounion that leaves from Green Park at the beginning of Alexandras Ave near Patission street that goes every 2 hours and costs around 5 Euros. You can also rent a car and see Sounion along with the rest of Attika as I did at www.athensguide.com/attika

See Also: Athens Day Trips , History ofGreece ,The Acropolis, Beaches, George the Famous Taxi Driver , Day Trips in Attika

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