Cape Sounion
Sunset
Attractive beaches
surround Athens, being in the center of the Attica Peninsula. This region
has developed into a popular holiday destination. There is a selection of
lively resort towns, all less than a one-hour drive away from Athens, making
Attica the ideal choice for a combined seaside-city vacation. The Apollo
Coast starts right in Athens. It begins in Piraeus, the port of Athens,
and extends to the southern tip of the Attica Peninsula at Cape Sounion.
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Along the
Apollo Coast lie the southern suburbs of Athens featuring a
string of beaches in Paleo Faliro, Alimos, Glyfada and Voula.
Some of the beaches charge an admission fee and provide changing
shower facilities, gardens, umbrellas, lounging chairs, water
sports, tennis courts and other amenities. In the evening, these
suburbs attract diners and partygoers, as they are home to fine
restaurants and some of the hottest nightspots of Athens. Right
outside the Athens metropolitan area lies the pine-studded beach
of Kavouri and the elegant town of Vouliagmeni, renowned for
its smart restaurants and deluxe hotels. Very popular to Athenians
is the large beach of Varkiza offering several amenities. Further
south lies the Lagonissi Peninsula, which is entirely occupied
by a deluxe hotel, and the resort towns of Saronida and Anavyssos.
Driving
along the coastal road of the Attica region with a splendid
view of the Saronic Gulf.
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A crowning
feature of the tour is Cape
Sounion, dominated by the spectacular
Temple of Poseidon
overlooking the Aegean sea. On the rocky peninsula that projects
into the sea at the south-east tip of Attika, the Athenians
built sanctuaries to their two most important deities:
Poseidon and
Athena. The temple
of Poseidon, was built on the summit of the rock rises 60m above
the sea, and is surrounded by stout walls; two temples to Athena
Sounias were erected at a lower level. |
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Standing
on ground consecrated in times long gone by are the remains
of the sanctuary dedicated to Poseidon on Cape Sounion. The
temple, which was built of marble between 444 and 440 BC. on
the orders of Pericles probably the work of the same architect
who built the Theseum in Athens. It was a Doric building with
a peristyle replacing an earlier 6c BC. which had been destroyed
in the second Persian War by the Persians in 480 B.C. Abandoned
for many years to the ravages of the weather and treasure seekers,
it was restored in the 19th C, several columns have been re-erected.
It is no exaggeration to state that some of the most beautiful
sunsets in the world can be seen from this most striking spot
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Another beautiful view of the light
and slender columns of the Temple of Poseidon. Byron signature is still
visible on the wall. The 16 columns of the peristyle, all that remain of
the 34 originals which supported the architrave, seem very tall although
they are only 6.10m/20ft high. In the bay below were boat -houses, of which
some remains can be seen. At the west end of the headland are preserved
two ship sheds protected by the fortification wall. They consist of two
slipways, deep, long cuttings in the rock, on which rested a wooden structure
that protected the bottom of the ships when they were dragged out of the
sea. The ships were kept here for use in case of emergency.
The sanctuary of Sounion,
with its strong fortress, was directly connected with the metal-bearing
region of Lavreotiki. In the mountain at Lavrion (small industrial town
and mineral port) are preserved many ancient mining installations, and there
are marble quarries in the area of Agrileza, which supplied the material
for the temple of Poseidon. Recent excavations by Belgian archaeologists
suggest that the mines at Lavrion were already being worked early in 3000
BC. But it was early in the 5th C. BC. that the deposits of silver bearing
sulphides began to be systematically exploited bringing wealth and power
to Athens.
