TEMPLE OF POSEIDON

Friday, October 19^th, 2007 Athens – Temple of Poseidon

Woke up at 6:30 am refreshed and ready to go; turned on the computer and called family in California on the Internet system called Skype; works great but you both have to be online for it to work. They were still up…it was nearly 10 pm in California so we had a nice talk. Enjoyed breakfast in the hotel and then headed out to Syntagma Square and the #5 Tram to Gadfaya where Julie will pick us up in her car. Julie is the oldest daughter of old friends at home; she has lived her adult life in Greece and is a dual citizen of both countries. She works as a travel agent and plans to share her vast and expert knowledge with us today.

Purchased a telephone card so that we can call Julie to tell her what time we are getting on the tram; it will take about an hour to get there due to frequent stops. Arrived about 11 am and there was Julie in her car for our adventure. Due to plans at 6 pm we won’t be able to do everything that she’d planned; we decided we’d like to drive south to the Temple of Poseidon. We stopped there and over refreshments explored places and things that she thought we should see during the rest of our trip. She is in the travel business and brought books, maps and brochures on things that we should see and do.

We then headed north along the coast before stopping at a restaurant along the beach for a wonderful fish lunch compliments of Julie. She ordered calamari (whole ones not slices as we see in the USA) red mullet fish, fried zucchini, French fries, fried bread and a Greek liquor called Ouzo. We watched her select the fish before it was cooked. The Ouzo is about 40 proof and very good over ice; all of this and a view of the water. We made plans to come back to see her later in the trip when we have the time to visit her home for a BBQ and meet her significant other, Demetrius.

Soon it was time to head back into the city but this time she took us further north where we could pick up the Metro for a very fast ride back into Athens.

Walked to the hotel and arrived about 5 pm. Checked email about 6 and found a message from grandson Brian who had missed his flight and won’t be arriving between 6 and 7 for dinner after all. But, he is still coming so we’ll wait. Don’t mind resting up a bit and finally getting a start on my journal. Tomorrow will be a busy day.