Monday, 12/17/12
Our only day trip out of Athens was a few hour tour to the Sounion Ruins. We had scheduled this trip at a travel agency in the morning and we picked up at a hotel at 2. The ride down was nice, mostly through the city and finally on some winding roads. We had about 1 hour to walk around there.
Cape Sounion is on the Attica Peninsula, about 45 miles south of Athens. It is the ruins of Poseidon, the god of the sea. What is interesting is that is surrounded on 3 sides by the sea and a popular place to watch sunsets, but we left before the sunset! The structure dates back to 700 BC.
This spot, according to legend is where the king of Athens, Aegeus jumped to his death off the cliff and hence why the sea is not called the Aegean Sea.
In the early 1800’s an English poet Lord Byron carved his name in one of the columns. He was enthralled with the area. You can no longer see the inscription because it is barracked off.
timistravels 
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