Sleep was interrupted at 1:30 a.m. when a new roommate showed up (it’s a 4 bed room). But think she left already this morning. After breakfast I headed off to the Hopon/Hopoff bus again and rode to the Acropolis stop. As I headed up the LOOONG climb, I saw a handicapped elevator sign, so decided my limp was a handicap and followed it around the base. Came upon a construction elevator going STRAIGHT up a cliff! Rode it up with an elderly German couple – it was pretty breathtaking! I didn’t get up there until about 10 as I had chatted too long at breakfast with Kendall, a woman from Long Beach I’d met the night before. She said she’d leave a note if she was interested in going on the bus out to see the sunset at Sounion on the southern tip of this peninsula at the Temple of Poseidon.
So there were already crowds of tourists up top but I tried to ignore them and enjoy the moment. The two temples on top are amazing but the British Museum really needs to return the Elgin marble statues stolen in the early 1900s from this site and return them to Greece! Something like over 40 statues were taken! They are working on some reconstruction but I think Greece needs to focus on other economic needs rather than reconstructing sites for tourists right now!! I ended up spending a couple of hours taking in the wonderful views out over the city and the temples before returning to the hostel. Stopped and had a wonderful Greek salad and souvlaka for lunch and then took a rest at the hostel before meeting Kendall, Maureen and Mica (two Canadians from Vancouver traveling together – Kendall had met them on the walking tour of sites today – I wasn’t up to that much walking.
We ran (hobbling/run for me!) to make the 3:30 bus out to Sounion. It was a gorgeous ride along the coast with beautiful views of the Aegean with tons of people in swimming and windsurfing! It took almost 2 hours (a bargain for E6.5) to get out to the remote hill where the temple was. They only give you a senior discount if you are from an EU country so paid the full E4 to get in, E12 at the Acropolis. We got some cold drinks and headed up to walk around the temple. It doesn’t look restored and was in much better condition than the Parthenon (although it didn’t get a bomb thrown into it by the Venetians or somebody like the Parthenon did!) Very few people there so we had a lovely visit and headed home just as the sun was setting on the 7 p.m. bus. The travel agent here in the hostel was wonderful! I was going to pay E48 for a bus tour out there and she said I didn’t need to do that – just take this local bus – and it was much better. We were on our own time schedule.
Kendall is a social worker, working with troubled kids and adults in Long Beach, CA. She’s over here for a month’s holiday and will head to some islands. She loves traveling on her own and has done a lot of it. She met on the walk Maureen, a retired American Airlines employee, traveling with Mica, also retired, from Vancouver. They are traveling for several months, will head to some islands and maybe Crete from here. Mica’s amazing, 55 years old, has run 10 marathon and will run in London in April. She said there are 5 majors and this will complete the 5 for her. She’s run Boston several times. Amazing!! I think Maureen said she’d hiked that trail from France into Spain last year – took her 5 months!! They will travel for a month or so in Turkey after Greece! Mica lived 16 years in Fiji Islands (but she is Sikh) and then moved to Vancouver when she married. She and Maureen are both now divorced and passionate travelers. Hope to connect with them again sometime!
Ate wonderful food and wine next door to the hostel (they give us free drink and 15% off). They told me they ran into Stephen Baldwin on their walking tour and showed me pictures he took with them. Apparently he was with some religious group, carrying a Bible. He was very friendly and willing to take pictures. They were all excited! At the next table to us at dinner was a Greek Australian musician with his younger date who chatted us up and invited us to where his friend would be performing. We’re already going to the music folklore program tomorrow evening up on one of the hills near the Acropolis. But they may go see him another night. Fun!
Got an e-mail from Sr. Trai Nyiem (Akemi) from Paris with her former Athens roommate’s contact info here. Tried to call her to maybe meet up with Katerina tomorrow sometime. The other 3 are headed to the Acropolis tomorrow but I was going to try to find a beach out by Pireaus maybe for the day. There were beautiful beaches out that way.
Yassas for now!
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