The temple of Sounio, dedicated to Poseidon god of sea, is one of the most famous day trips one can do while in Athens. First, the coastal ride itself is among the best ones in the world, or at least as long as you don't meet a summer Sunday dumbass like I once did and luckily I'm still alive to post the video my friend recorded riding behind me:
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Don't let this put you down, the ride is amazing regardless the mean of transportation (bus included). But even if it wasn't the view of the Temple alone is more than enough to do justice for your decision:
This masterpiece built in the 5th B.C. deserves all the possible viewing angles but I'll just put a few of them here:
Located right at the South East end of the region overlooking the sea this ancient site offers top 360 view making it ideal place to watch both the sunset and the full moon. Regardless the celestial highlights, all through the day the white marble makes a picturesque contrast with the (usually) clear blue sky. As a bonus you have chances to see whole families of partridges as I did many times in this site:
But also outside the site:
Not all people know that there was another temple there before this one, built in 6th BC, but the Persians destroyed it during their invasion. Also not all people know or have discovered the beauty of the National Park of Sounio. It's a wonderful piece of land and a photographer's heaven:
There's various bits indicating the intense presence of Greeks here during the ancient years like this one:
By the way, this is the place that hosted my guitar jam months ago:
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This place is where Ancient Greeks took the marble from in order to built the Temple and other things around. It's top quality marble with very low concentration in vulnerable to oxidization elements hence the Temple looks so neat after 2500years. The really impressive ancient site in the middle of Sounio park is the Ancient silver workshop but you have to fix an appointment and ask for access to that area.
You don't need any permit though if you decide to visit an interesting geological phenomenon in the same area named "Chaos" which looks like this:
It's huge enough to spot it easily on satellite maps. A look at the following image explains better how it was created:
As you can see, the bottom looks like a dry beach so most likely it used to be a cave and water running though the years corroded its roof and by collapsing it unveiled this impressive crater.
The park is a hiker's heaven but also ideal for mountain bikers. Some trails are easier:
...and some trails are harder:
In any case you have to watch out for vent holes of the countless silver mines of the past that might swallow you many 10s of meters underground. The whole mountain is like a Swiss cheese:
Yes, ideal for botanologists too:
The leftovers of the past silver activity might be the only danger you can face around there today but in the past it was a huge resource of wealth even from the ancient years hence Athens managed to fight Persians much harder than the latter expected.
Actually the whole area has being populated since the prehistoric years and that's no surprise as it's hard to find a place so beautiful with friendly weather and rich land. The very first silver mine of the area dates back to 3000 BC. It's not accessible but I was lucky enough one day to find some French speleologists in there and asked them to keep the door open for me for a minute. Be as lucky as I was and have a short look:
The oldest mine is located right behind the oldest theater in the world. Yes, I am talking about the very first one. The theater of Thoriko, with a slight chance it might be the second one behind the theater of Dionysus at the foothill of Acropolis, is as old as a theater can get as long as you don't count only the consistently working ones. Have a look:
Imagine people back in the day watching a play with all this view in the background. Incredible isn't it? Enjoy it from a different angle:
And see how Spring dresses it in top colours:
You may have noticed that its stage doesn't have the typical half circle shape but it is more rectangular/elliptical. This is also a proof that probably it is older than the one at Acropolis as they later found out that the half circle is a more efficient shape and all the rest marble theaters were built that way.
Ancient Greeks definitely had a taste in places and the theater of Thoriko is no exception. Any season can be OK to visit and walk around but Spring is the best one colour wise:
And if you decide to hike up to the top of the hill there the view will be the gift that keeps on giving:
Fancy a video with a little bit of everything? :
Hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I do, see you on the next one!