Monday, January 28
This morning we left Nafplio for a quick visit to the southern most region of Attica. Our destination was the Temple of Poseidon near the southern tip in the town of Sounio.
We’d had a rental car for 13 days now. Aside from the fact that it had a small engine and limited power it had served us well. Our trip proceeded normally. Along the main road we had to stop every 15 minutes or so and pay a toll. Over the course of two weeks we’d spent about $50.00 on tolls. They did accept credit cards. It was a small consolation.
As we passed Corinth we spied Acorcorinth set high on top of a hill. The walls extended all the around the fortress. We waived as it faded into the distance and wondered if we’d ever see it again. Soon we were approaching the town of Agioi Theodoroi and had to stop for another toll. As we accelerated back to highway speed we heard a loud bang. It felt like the front right fender would soon shake loose and detach from all of the vibrations. We pulled to the side of the road and looked for the trouble. The right front tire was destroyed. Wires were sticking out in several places and in two different places large chunks of rubber were missing. Fortunately there was a small rest stop just 200 meters ahead. We put the flashers on a crawled to the pull off.
(Houston, We Have a Problem Here)
Our first inclination was to change the tire using the provided spare. One look at the infant sized jack and the tiny lug wrench caused us to re-evaluate. We called the rental car company for assistance. They told us to drive over to their location and they’d give us a new car. When we explained that we were about an hour outside of Athens and the car was not safe to drive they suggested that we change the tire. We suggested that they send someone out to do exactly that.
We explained to them that we had just passed the toll booths near Agioi Theodoroi and that we were on the south side of the highway at a small rest stop but they said they needed a better description of our location. We emailed them our GPS coordinates but they didn’t seem to like that so we sent them a link to the rest stop from Google maps. That seemed to do the trick. They informed us that someone would be there in about an hour.
After an hour and fifteen minutes someone showed up. He didn’t seem to speak any English. I pointed out the damaged tire and he took a look, shook his head and proceeded to get the spare. The entire operation took no more than ten minutes. One hour later we were in Sounio.
The Temple of Poseidon is set high on a hilltop overlooking the water on three sides. It was actually part of the Sanctuary of Poseidon that included a grand Propylaea, a Stoa, a Deme and a Port. The Temple dates from about 444 BC. The outer colonnade on the two long sides is somewhat intact but little is left of the two small ends. The temple once had friezes depicting several battle scenes as an allegory of the Athenians victory over the Persians. Parts of these friezes are on display in museums in Lavrio and in Athens. Very little of the surrounding buildings are left. Today the temple sits all by itself. It’s a majestic site that can be seen far off along the coastal roads.
(The Temple of Poseidon)
There are paths along the side of the hill that wend their way through the ancient deme all the way down to the waterfront where there was an ancient harbor. A section of the rock was dug out so that a ship could effectively dock while it was being loaded/unloaded. Some of that dock is still clearly visible.
A few hundred feet away, on a smaller adjacent hill, sits the remains of a temple of Athena. All that can be seen today is the footprint of the building. The temple was actually dismantled in ancient times and the materials were brought to Athens for use in other construction projects.
We had lunch at a restaurant that was on the hilltop just outside of the archeological site. It was overpriced but it had a magnificent view of the temple and the coastline. We ordered tzatzaki, some small cheese pies and feta and honey. The food was surprisingly good. After leaving the site we made a quick stop at the Temple of Athena; there wasn’t much to see there but we can’t help trying to see everything possible. Finally we were ready to try and find our residence for the night.
The drive up the coast was quite scenic. There were pullouts every couple of miles where you could look back and see the temple. Soon we got to Anavyssos and tried to pick up some groceries for our evening meal. The local supermarket had very little but we managed to find some cheese pies at a neighborhood bakery. We were staying at a private house. We knew that finding the place would be a challenge. It didn’t have a street address and the directions we had been given didn’t inspire confidence.
The way to the house was up a very steep hill via winding gravel roads and sharp turns. The car’s wheel slipped frequently and filled the air with the smell of burning rubber. Our directions said to turn right on a named street and go to the end. The house would be the first one on the right. That house had a gate that was padlocked and didn’t seem too inviting. There were only two other houses nearby and both were up a very steep hill. We figured one of them had to be what we were looking for. As we pulled up a man came out and waved to is. At least we’d found it.
The house was high on a cliff overlooking the water. There was a large veranda that could accommodate a large party. The man told us that they were planning to put in a pool as well. The inside was huge and had a full wall of glass doors facing the veranda. The house had two bedrooms, a nice bathroom, full kitchen and was incredibly well equipped. It was one of the nicest apartments we’ve had since we started traveling. It would have been a great place to spend a few days but we were only going to be there for one night. We were surprised it was so nice because it was the least expensive place we could find.
Tuesday, January 29
The next morning we got up early and headed out. We wanted to see some more of the area before heading back to Athens for our 3:30 pm flight to Santorini. We decided to head into Lavrio to get some breakfast. Along the way we stopped at several pullouts to take pictures of the temple; it’s hard to imagine getting enough of that incredible view.
(Sunrise over the Temple)
After a breakfast of coffee and pastries we visited the Lavrio archeological museum. According to Google and its web site the museum is closed only on Mondays but from our experiences Tuesday is the day to be concerned about. Sure enough the museum sported a sign saying that they were closed on Tuesday but it appeared that the building was open. We tried the doors and were able to walk inside. From the looks of things we expected them to tell us that they were closed but we were able to purchase two tickets and see the exhibits. Cost of entry was €1.00 / $1.15 per person. Credit cards are accepted.
The museum is very small and is really just one large room with a couple of niches. We learned that the Athenians were in control of Attica (the peninsula that Athens sits on) and that the silver mines in the area were an important source of wealth that funded the Athenian state during the classical period. During the 5th and 4th Centuries BC alone over a million tons of silver and half a million tons of lead had been produced. Many of the artifacts were related to the process of mining, mining instruments and mining contracts from that era. The museum’s star attractions were the friezes from the Temple of Poseidon. There were approximately a dozen blocks of stone on display but only a couple had any sort of recognizable carvings. Our visit lasted about thirty minutes.
At this point we still had plenty of time so we drove over to the archeological site in Thorikos which was just a short drive from Lavrio. The area was home to a small deme but it’s main attraction was a theater that was built in the 5th Century BC. It’s the oldest theater ever found in Greece and was in use until the 6th Century AD.
(Ancient Theater at Thorikos)
After touring the site we still had plenty of time so we drove back over to the west side of the peninsula and took the slower but much more scenic coastal road as far as we could before turning back towards the interior. Christina had suggested that we make a stop at Lake Vouliagmeni. We had intended to take a look but before we realized it we had passed the lake and we didn’t want to turn back and risk being late for our flight.
The flight to Santorini was an uneventful thirty minutes. We picked up our rental car and were off to find our new residence. This time, because we were not able to find any suitable AirBNBs, we opted for a hotel. The confirmation from the hotel had a link to directions using Google maps and we followed them until we got on some narrow roads that dead-ended high up on a hill. We could find no sign of the hotel anywhere. We decided to drive towards the town of Fira where our hotel was supposed to be and see if we could get there by following our noses. The streets in and around Fira are a disaster. Most of them are very narrow one-way streets. The two-way streets have cars parked all along them effectively turning them into one-way streets where it’s impossible to see traffic coming from the opposite direction. In any event we were unable to find the hotel. It was a good thing our hotel was supposed to have a parking lot because finding a place to park was also going to be a horror.
We tried the Google directions again and found a small street, really an alley, that we had missed the last time. It was unbelievably narrow and could barely fit our small car. It didn’t feel right but we continued down the alley for about 100 yards until we got to a where we had to make an incredibly tight turn to continue down an even narrower alley. We started to go back and forth to make the turn until we realized that this was absolutely nuts. We stopped to evaluate.
Our best option seemed to be go back the way we came but by now we couldn’t just back up; we were stuck between the two alleys. We couldn’t go forward, we couldn’t go backward and we couldn’t back up. It was so narrow that we couldn’t open the doors to get out and have a look around. Deborah tried to crawl out the back hatch but it wouldn’t open from the inside so she opened her window and climbed through. I was impressed.
She walked down the rest of the alley to see what was ahead. It was a pedestrian walkway and, even if we wanted to, we’d never be able to get there through an even narrower passage. We had to back up. It was an impossible task. The car was not in either alley now. Deborah tried to tell me how to turn the wheel in order to back into the first alley but the passage was too narrow and we were afraid we’d seriously damage the car. While we were trying to get our selves out a woman with two dogs came walking down the road. Deborah told her that we were stuck but she didn’t seem to care. We stopped just long enough to let her and her dogs pass by.
We tried the go-forward and turn the wheel hard, now backup and cut the wheel the other way routine for about fifteen minutes before giving up in disgust. The car now had a serious scrape on the front right fender. We were about to call the car rental company to see what they could do when the woman with the dogs returned accompanied by a man. She said, “He can do this”. I crawled out the window and handed him the keys. What did we have to lose?
The man got in the car and seemly without effort got the car straightened out into the first alley and started backing up. We started walking after him but kept a good distance just in case he needed to come forward to straighten himself out. Secretly we hoped that he would steal the car and our troubles would be over. When he got to the end of the block he go out and handed me the keys. We couldn’t believe he had done it so easily nor could we believe our good fortune. We asked him if he knew how to get to our hotel. He looked at the address and said something to the effect of drive into Fira, park the car and walk up the hill. He was very nice. I put a €10 note in his hand. He refused to take it but I insisted. Deborah said I should have given him €20.
Before moving we checked the hotel’s web site for directions. There weren’t any. We called the hotel and the person who answered spoke no English. He put us on hold for ten minutes and when he came back we said, “Pelican Travel” and hung up. We managed to find Pelican Travel but there was no parking there nor was there an access road to the hotel.
Back in Fira we found a small side street where saw some othercars were parked. We parked in an empty spot and hoped that it would be ok. They we dragged our luggage up several very steep blocks and up an even steeper staircase until we came to our hotel. It was obvious that there was no parking lot. It had been a very tiring and emotional experience. We were not ready for what came next.
The man welcomed us. He said our room was already paid for but that we had to pay €3.50 for taxes. I handed him a credit card and he said, “cash only”. You don’t take credit cards? Not for room taxes. He confirmed that we would be there for one week but then informed us that the hotel was full on the night of February 1, and that we would have to move to another hotel for one day. I was about to blow my top when, thankfully, Deborah stepped in and defused the situation by taking over my part in the conversation. We still don’t know if we’ll be required to move for one night.
The man gave us the keys and escorted us up another steep set of stairs to our room. At least he carried one of the suitcases.
It was a very bad afternoon.
Distance walked: 5.2 miles