FRIDAY, JUNE 7
Serious Greek historians and archeologists come to Sounion because Poseidon’s Temple, which served as the prototype for the Acropolis’ Parthenon, is here. Somehow we ended up there as well…and it was magical.
BUS RIDE OF SEEING
The bus ride from Athens takes at least two hours, depending on how many times the driver stops to pick up passengers who simply wave him over from roadside. The trip proved to be a great excursion as the public bus drove through thick and crazy traffic in downtown Athens, and followed the coastline and local beaches, dipping into small, barely populated towns along the way. The hills turned golden tan along the rocky ridges on one side; the deep blue, Aegean Sea spread out on the other.
A friend always asks me, What are the people like? I don’t know that I’m in any position to say. But for her sake, I’ll try. I find the Greek people lively but at the same time reserved and tough. Many of the women hold their faces as if they have smelled something stinky or have a bad taste in their mouths. My sense is they don’t like tourists, even though tourism is the biggest economy. They are not particularly friendly. When I’ve asked for help, it seems whomever I ask can’t get away from me fast enough. Okay, it may be me but I don’t think so.
I like their forthrightness, the women’s deep voices, their style of dress, mostly blacks and whites, basic, simple, and direct. It seems odd to see so much black in a hot country, but it is common here. They walk slowly, knowing the right speed for handling the heat.
Most notable of all is their ability to linger. They sit with a frappe (the favored drink of cold coffee with milk and sugar) for hours; lunches can last four hours. Waiters are slow to clear dishes because sitting after the meal is the norm.
It also seems that many people are not working but are home during the day…or out at restaurants and cafes. When we ate on the street near us, at Asters, I could see people, behind partially drawn blinds or moving back and forth to the balcony, in almost every apartment.
As we drove to Sounion in a bus jammed full of people, every seat and the aisles full, I watched the interplay and kindness of strangers, Greek to Greek, the comfort in communicating, the ease of community. One person would yell the length of the bus for another person who couldn’t be heard by the driver, and I felt the connectedness of people who share a hard history, who are survivors and belong to a tightly knit tribe.
From the window, I watched the cars. Almost everyone had their windows down, the air blowing freely. In many countries, even when it is warm outside, people keep their windows rolled up, the cool air on. There is an openness here, to each other, between inside and out, to the very light and heat.
ARRIVING AT SOUNION
Sounion is not a small town, but a bus stop with a restaurant by the Temple of Poseidon and a small beach resort below Poseidon’s cliff. We were starving and had no choice but to eat at the one restaurant, which was overpriced but may have been worth it as we could gaze at the Temple while eating outside, slightly cooled by a breeze and away from the mid-day heat.
THE TEMPLE OF POSEIDON
Yet again we were seeing an indescribably powerful and beautiful temple. Commanding, elegant, ancient — 2,500 years old. Hard to fathom, but somehow not as hard to feel. It is believed that here is where the Athenian King Aegeus threw himself into the sea because he thought his son had died in battle. But his son hadn’t died. His father was misled by a black flag flying over the boat in which his son was returning.
DOWN TO THE BEACH
After viewing the Temple, we decided to explore the “resort” below. It was a 25-minute walk on the road so rather than sweating that out, we bushwacked down to the beach. At the hotel, we changed into our bathing suits (easy to sneak in as mother and daughter), and walked over the burning sand to the cool, green, completely clear, glass-like sea. The fish were visible around our legs.
A little panic set in when Chloe realized she didn’t have her phone, and we couldn’t find it in the bathroom. But it turned out someone else found it, and took it to the front desk. What luck!
A MOVIE UNDER THE STARS
After the bus ride back to Athens, we managed to get to the Plaka for an outdoor movie, The Hustle. This is the way Athenians go to the movies, outside, below the Acropolis. Really….
The chairs were full of people on Friday night dates. Drinks and snacks were served at a bar. A small sliver of a moon poked out behind the screen.
Athens is romantic. As we searched for a taxi home, people lingered at sidewalk tables on the Plaka’s cobbled, winding pathways. Musicians played their instruments. Couples strolled hand in hand down the pedestrian street. As we passed the Acropolis Museum, finely dressed people were exiting, probably from a formal event, and we wandered over, to find the ruins below ground lit, creating a magical sense of the past.
