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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.
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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. 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.
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Driving along the coastal road of the Attica region with a
splendid view of the Saronic Gulf . 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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Ancient Greeks believed that
Sounio was the house of Poseidon, the God
of the Sea. Today the Greeks still come and pay
homepage to the divine nature of the Cape (Akrotirion)
words cannot describe it.
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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 Thesseon 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. 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.
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Destinations in Greece
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 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.
You can view our portfolio of photos at
http://www.panoramio.com/user/45649/tags/Cape%20Sounion
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