I’m sitting in my hotel room looking at the Parthenon reliving in my mind what I think is the perfect Greek moment I had a couple of hours ago.

Tolis, my taxi driver friend who I met through Michael V. in Indiana took me to Sounio to see the Temple of Poseidon. I was blown away by the beauty of the temple and the beauty of the location. We went to a restaurant just below the temple. My moment was when Tolis was filling me wonderful stories from Greek Mythology while eating Moussaka and looking at the Temple of Poseidon. I hope a snapshot of that moment stays with me for a long time, I’m sure it will.

Tolis relating the Greek mythology of the Temple of Poseidon (left), while I eat moussaka with Greek coffee (right)

 

 

I offered to buy him lunch but he said this is not the time of day (1 PM) when he would eat. He said he would maybe have a snack around now then eat at 5 or so. I told him I often eat at 5 but then I realized it’s lunch he has at 5, then dinner at 10 or so after the children go to bed. Strangely enough this almost matches 2 of the 3 meals I would have when not teaching. I would have a meal at noon or so when I get up, then have dinner at 5 with Margaret (same time as Tolis), then a snack around 10 PM to midnight (same again as Tolis). Margaret and I share 2 meals too — the noon meal and the 5 PM one.

 

Backtracking now to 10 AM, Tolis picked me up in his taxi and we drove out of Athens through some very wealthy suburbs. I had to do my usual touching the water and this time didn’t fall or get my shoes soaked. Maybe I really do have something for Aphrodite. When I told that story to Tolis, he simply responded that many people throughout history have had a thing for Aphrodite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beaches along the road from Athens to the Temple of Poseidon at Sounio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My first view of the Temple of Poseidon from the road (left), view before the climb (right)

It’s becoming hard for me to concentrate on this because as we speak, the sky over the Parthenon from where I’m sitting keeps changing every minute. This is the first time I really wished I had a heavy duty multi-faceted camera along with the knowledge of how to fully use it.

 

Amazing sky over the Parthenon from my hotel room while I’m trying to write about what happened earlier

Getting back to my story. As I said earlier, not only is the Temple magnificent, but so is the setting. It’s located at the very tip of the Greek Peninsula and the views are great. Of course, the Ancient Greeks did not choose its location by chance.

 

That top picture almost looks perfect, like from a post card. The other two have something in the way that makes them far from perfect.

 

View from the Temple of the end point of the Greek peninsula

A story Tolis told me is as follows. There was a competition between the gods Athena and Poseidon for naming the city of Athens. Athena offered olive trees and Poseidon horses for war. They chose Athena’s olive trees over the horses. They named the city Athens after Athena but dedicated this temple at Sonio to Poseidon as a consolation prize.

Another story Tolis told me is as follows. Thiseas was sent to Mineas to be sacrificed but instead he killed the Minotaur (half bull, half man). He was supposed to change his sail from black to white if he killed the minotaur and was not killed. He forgot to change the sail to white because he had partied too much. His father, Aegeas, saw that the sail had not changed to white when Mineas was returning and Aegeas threw himself into the sea in grief.

Tolis’ 8-year old son, Thodoris, told his father to be sure that Tolis told me this story. Thodoris loves Greek mythology. I wrote the following email through his mother’s email.

Dear Thodoris,

I want to thank you for getting your father to tell me the story of Thiseas and Aegeas when we were at Sounio. It made my trip much better to hear this story while having lunch near the Temple. I hope you keep your interest in the Ancient Greek stories for the rest of your life. I very much enjoyed my time with your father. He is a wonderful man and from how he described your mother and brother, I’m sure they are quite wonderful also. Maybe next time I come to Greece I will be able to meet you.

 

 

More views of the Mediterranean from the Temple of Poseidon at Sounio

 

Our last stop was at Panathinaiko Stadium, which was used for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and was the finish line for the Marathon atthe 2004 Athens Olympics. It was remade out of marble in 329 BCE then enlarged and renovated by Herodes Atticus in 140 AD to a seated capacity of 50,000. Other renovations followed including for the 1896 games. They have had rare concerts there like Bob Dylan and “Big Wheel Keeps On Turnin'” Tina Turner. It’s in the area of Athens that Tolis’ lives in and he plays soccer once a week in the grounds behind the stadium.

 

Panathinaiko, the Ancient Olympic Stadium

From the 2004 Olympics (Wikipedia)

 

View of the Parthenon from the Olympic Stadium

 

Many people had told me that Athens usually has some kind of protest that disrupts daily life. We did indeed have a transit strike today, which was a good reason to be out of town. When we came back, Tolis talked of taking me somewhere but the traffic was bad due to the strike and I was also burnt out.

 

I was really impressed with Tolis. He’s a great father and a fun and warm person. I very much enjoyed my time with him. It was great to have someone that I could trust and knew where to go in these places. His charges were quite reasonable. If you or someone you know is planning to go to Athens, please contact me and I’ll give you his contact info.

My plan was to go out again later to the Plaka or Monasteraki areas where I was last night. Now I’m feeling like today was such a great ending to my trip (besides the little detail of 22 hours to get home tomorrow, starting at 6 AM), that I’ll just stay here and post this even though the day is not done.  I’m sure you’ve had the experience of feeling that something is done and that there’s no need to do anything else. My brain is filled.