That one time we ended up at the Temple of Poseidon.

And it was a complete accident.

The Temple of Poseidon.

The first weekend we spent in Athens, there was a group of students who set off to Andros. This included every single one of my roommates, which meant I had to entertain myself.

Another body of students, The Holy Cross Kids, had made plans to Visit the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion at the southern tip of Attica. The Athenian heat had become completely exhausted, and alls I wanted to do was immerse myself in a Grecian beach. So that is exactly what Nathanial (Nat), another CYA-er, and I decided to do our first Saturday. Our original intentions were to Head a few hours drive north, to Marathon. If I decide to go through with the Marathon in November, naturally it will be ran in Marathon. We figured we could scope it out before hand and indulge in the Beaches there, which Greece is crawling with beautiful beaches, if you could imagine.

We took a bus to a private bus station, that had buses leaving all over Athens.

Our bus driver pointed us to the correct bus, and we boarded.

When we got on and got going, however, Nat realized that we were on the wrong bus. Our fare was 6.30 euros and the bus ride was about 90 minutes. 

We got to ride all along the cost of Greece and had a wonderful view of the Mediterranean sea.

Temple from a Distance

Once we finally got to the Temple, we were able to walk all around the ruins. It was magnificent to be so close to a piece of history. Every chance we get to visit these kind of places is surreal for all of us. We just kind of stand there in awe of our surroundings. One of the few conversations I have had the pleasure of having with a Greek was about how awe-struck the tourists have been. The woman said that it is a shame that more Greeks don't appreciate the history they have here more. Most never even bother to visit the many museums Athens has here. I explained that we don't really have history like this in America. Our country is only a couple century's old. While Greece and the rest of the world was the playground for many ancient civilizations, no one had a clue the America's even existed. Whatever history we had here before English Colonization has been pretty much stomped on by the early settlers. What Greece has to offer is what most of us at CYA have spent years in school reading about. To actually be here is just indescribable. 

Ancient Pottery

We hit a double jackpot, as there was an live excavation taking place around the temple. Nat is an Archeology major, who spent a month this past summer digging in Macedonia. He was able to explain what was going on. We got to hold pieces of old ancient pottery and walk in the ruins of a community long forgotten. 

We crawled all around the hill the Temple is on. We got right up close to the water. It was breathtaking. The water was a shade of blue I didn't believe water could be!

We ended up running into the other Students who'd gone to the temple at the beach walking distance from the temple. And I finally got to swim in the Sea!

 

The Sunset was so beautiful. We climbed a hill adjacent of the Temple and got amazing pictures of it as Dusk.  

Over all, it was a good trip and a good mistake to have made!

For even more Pictures, Click here!!

The Password is "Poseidon"