Our fourth day of site-seeing in Greece was supposed to be a free day, but we were on a roll. Page arranged for George, our driver to and from the airport, to take us south to see the Temple of Poseidon that he remembered fondly 52 years ago. This drive through wealthy beach towns and homes was a lovely ride along a rocky coast. Also, George made a couple turnoffs to show us places we would never have seen!
First sight off in the distance on top of the hill…..!
We spent about an hour, almost alone, wandering the trails and studying the maps.
Poseidon was the God of the Sea. High on a cliff peninsula on Cape Sounion, the fortress and sanctuaries were built during 444–440 B.C. Homer was the first to refer to them in his Odyssey as “the sacred cape of the Athenians”. The investigation of the Poseidon Temple started in 1884 by Germans and now current work is conducted by the Greek Archaeological Service since the 1950s. Before they departed on long sea voyages, ancient Greek sailors would come to the temple at sunset and pray to Poseidon for a safe journey. They knew they were nearly home when they saw the first glimpse of white. It was awe-inspiring to be in this place and imagine those days.
Check this out! My photo compared to a painting from a century ago!
2020 Vision of Venice 