"Greece gave me two fingers............" a Sounio Travel Page by leics

.........but, like a good amateur archaeologist, I gave them back. :-)

I would never have visited Sounio if it was not for VT-er Janetanne, who kindly drove me miles and miles just so I could see the sunset at the superb Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounio.

On the way (and at the site itself) we saw the most wonderful swathes of wild flowers........and brilliant views of the turquoise sea........and green Spring Greek countryside.

There will be travelogues for this page, of course.......if only for the beautiful flowers. I'll link them here as I make them.

But finding two fingers.....truly amazing! They are marble, ancient Greek, clearly broken off a life-size sculpture from the temple site and thrown unnoticed, onto the excavator's spoilheap at some point in the past. The spoilheap must have been used to provide a path down to a good viewpint......the paths is covered in ancient pottery sherds......and I just noticed a strangely grooved piece of marble. Knowing marble does not naturally erode in that way, I picked it up and lo! Fingers!

Pure chance that the path had worn away enough to expose the marble, pure chance that the light was right and I was looking down at the time.

The temptation to keep them was great, but the penalties for removing ancient artefacts (even sherds) from Greek sites are also great. Far, far too great for me to risk. So I handed then in to the women at the entrance.

Perhaps they will go the the relevant authorities, perhaps not. But even if they don't, at least they will still be in Greece, which is the right place for them.

Sounio is actually the site of two ancient temples, set on a promontory. Only the foundations remain of the Temple of Athena, but the Temple of Poseidon is stunning.

Dating from around 440 BC it is visible for miles around.....it must have served as a landmark for Aegean sailors for millenia. 18 of its original 42 columns still stand, the site itself enclosed by the remains of what were once massive walls. There were also two ramps for launching boats on the headland...the temple itself stands 60 metres above the sea.

There are columns, random stones (sepia-tinged as the sun sets), a million pottery sherds, random foundations. And many earlier travellers carved their names on the stones (including Lord Byron, although I could not see his inscription) and this graffiti itself is historically fascinating.

There's a nice taverna just before the site entrance and, if you walk from there directly towards the sea, you can stand on the spot where (according to legend but quite possibly based on historical fact) the ancient Greek king Aegeus threw himself into the sea in despair. The poor man saw a black sail on his son Theseus' boat as it sailed around the promontory and assumed he had been killed by the Minotaur in Crete. Theseus had agreed to raise a white sail if he had survived his encounter, but he forgot.......and that is how the Aegean Sea got its name.

And all around, at least in spring, are the flowers and the hills. The sunset (and it is a popular daytrip from Athens to see the sunset, so do not expect to be alone if you visit in season) is, of course, superb. Letting itself down gently into the Aegean sea, the sun brings new colours to the flowers, and the sherds, the columns and the hills and the distant islands. Beautiful.

I am so glad I went. Thank you, Janetanne.