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Wednesday, April 26, 2017

My Big Fat Greek Adventure Part 3: Poseidon's Temple

Our trip to Greece was Funny Guy's dream come true.  An avid Rick Riordan fan, he couldn't wait to see all of the places of the myths in the books in real life.  One of the places he begged to go was Poseidon's Temple.  Just about an hour's drive from Athens, it looked like a spot worth seeing.  We added it to the itinerary for the evening of our last day in Athens.
Unfortunately, I did that thing I normally do when I'm in charge of itineraries--I got antsy and nagged My Man into leaving too early.  I didn't want to risk missing the sunset!  We ended up arriving about 2 hours too early.  Oops.
The temple was beautiful, perched out on the end of a promontory overlooking the ocean.  But it was windy, super windy, and cold.  We walked around, got a bunch of great pictures, and started to freeze.  Still an hour and a half until sunset.
We ate a picnic dinner, took some more pictures, and froze some more.  We listened to Funny Guy tell us all the stories about Poseidon he could think of.  I explained the history of the place (the earliest ruins date from the Bronze Age but the temple standing now was erected in the 5th century BC).
Finally, the kids were done.  Granted, it had been a long day.  We'd already walked all over Athens, hitting the Agora, Mars Hill, and Zeus's Temple.  I was almost ready to side with them, but I'd heard that the sunset was magical.  Would it really be worth waiting for?  My Man thought so.  The kids didn't.  I wavered (it was really cold).  Finally we compromised, the kids hung out in the car, out of the wind, chilling with books and mp3 players.  My Man and I hung around at the temple, waiting for the magic of sunset.
And then it came.  And it was unbelievable how the light and color of the sunset transformed the temple into something holy.  "The kids are missing this!" I fretted to My Man.  "It will give them something to come back for when they are old enough to appreciate it," he answered.  I thought about running down to the car to get them, but I worried the park rangers wouldn't let me back up (it officially closes at sunset and they were already eyeing their watches, ready to start herding the photographers out.  Plus, I just couldn't pry my eyes away from the magical scene in front of me, which seemed to get better with each passing moment.
Probably, if you weren't there, with the wind in your face and the hugeness of the world and the ocean and sky falling away around you, these pictures won't wow you the way they still wow me.  But if you ever get the chance to visit Poseidon's Temple, bring a jacket (just in case, even if all your friends who just visited Greece the week before said they sweated though every minute of every day), and a camera, and prepare to be amazed.

Unfortunately, even though I could have stared and stared forever, the rangers decided at this point that the show was over and started (almost physically) pushing us out.  We'd walk a few steps, turn and stare, catch their pointed looks, and turn around for a few more steps, before pausing to catch one more look.  Some things are just too beautiful.

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