2024 Balkans Overland Adventure, Athens, Greece...

We disembarked the ship first thing this morning in Piraeus, and we were dropped at our hotel in Athens with a view of the Acropolis. Before taking an afternoon tour to Cape Sounion we met our Jayway Host, Valentina for coffee. Our coffee meeting break turned into a very delicious waffle brunch. Following our meeting, we did a trek to the Greek Parliament Square. Back at the hotel, it was nice to see a friendly face pick us up and we headed out of Athens to Cape Sounion. We drove through the southern Athens suburbs of Glyfada and Vouliagmeni, stopping at Lake Vouliagmeni. Lake Vouliagmeni is a famous lake hidden in a hill and nestled in the heart of the Athenian Riviera, is a hidden gem. The lake's brackish waters, continually replenished by both the sea and subterranean thermal springs. The lake also has an underwater cave that extends an impressive 3,123 meters and stands as one of Europe's largest underwater chambers. Driving along the scenic southern coast highway we stopped at Saint Nicolas Church near the city of Palaia Phokaia. Making our way to the Temple of Poseidon we stopped at a couple of scenic viewpoints along the way... The Temple of Poseidon was built in 14BC. That’s older than me! These ancient ruins also referred to as the temple of the God, stands at the end of the point of land facing the Aegean Sea known as Cape Sounion. The climb to the Temple was not bad and the views were great. We returned to the hotel, retrieved our luggage and decided to check out the hotels open air roof top patio for the view of the Acropolis…Wow, wow, wow…this was the best vantage point... Our hotel is very well situated across from the Monastiraki Square, so we went over for a walkabout. The square was busy but were able to get some photos of the Turkish Baths, Roman Agora and the Tower of Winds. We had an early dinner at a sidewalk cafe in the Square of some famous Greek cuisine…it was soooo delicious! It was a long day, but we saw some great sites. Flying to Sarajevo tomorrow, so stay tuned.