Salute to the Sea

We pressed on down to Athens, (once we'd visited the Delphi bakery again!), deciding to take the non coastal route for a change. This reminded us why we were usually down to the coast- it was a suprisingly dull route with cotton fields and olive groves spread out either side of us. When we hit Athens we agreed with our guide that it was inadvisable to drive there- the roads were crowded and chaotic with more than a few not adhearing to the rules of the road, but unilike Albania or Morocco, they didn't drive at a reduced speed to take this into account. We reached the port unskathed and managed to book a ferry for the following day fairly easily. It went to the Greek island of Chios the following night and on to Cesme in Turkey the next afternoon.

That done, we escaped from the madness, down to the southern most tip of the piece of land Athens is on. Lingering in Athens, even with the infamous Acropolis to see just didn't appeal. It seemed to take AGES to get there but we reached the tip where the Temple of Poseidon sits atop the cliff at Sounio just before sunset, as planned. I had heard it was best at sunset and and it was very beautiful. About half of the temple's columns and top blocks had been reconstructed which made a more dramatic structure than lots of Delphi.

We had a beer down at one of the cafes on a deserted bit of beach and considered eating there and staying parked up for the night but they specialised in fish and I was desperate to have some Moussaka or some Taziki and pitta at least! I LOVE Greek food and was begining to get a bit worried I might not actually get to have any! We drove up the road to another resturant which was nice enough, if empty except for us and although they were out of Moussaka they did have Taziki and an alternative aubergine dish so I was happy. They even gave us tasty free pieces of a honey, nut and polenta pudding as they were out of customer puddings but had this let over from their own dinner.

We settled down for the night in the overflow car park below the temple, and spent another wonderfully quiet night with the sea in our dreams.