Day Six - Excursions Outside of Athens

In 490 B.C. the Athenians and Plataeans defeated the Persians on the plain of Marathon to secure the safety of Greece for the next decade until the Persians returned to avenge their loss in 480 B.C. Traveling the 26 mile distance from modern Athens to Marathon on Theodore's luxury coach, we spent part of the day examining the burial mound of the 192 Athenians who died in their struggle against the Medes. The highlight of the Marathon museum was the Ionic capital of a trophy dedicated to Nike in remembrance of this landmark defeat of the Persian Empire. With grumbling stomachs and being out in the countryside of Attica, we bag-lunched it and ate (with an aggressive canine companion) on the steps of the Brauron museum. Opened after many years of renovation, the museum holds hundreds of votive offerings to Artemis as goddess of the hunt and protectress of women in childbirth. A fascinating site that gave us a clear glimpse of feminine roles in Athenian cultures and the importance of Artemis in the lives of the ancient Greeks, we said farewell to Artemis Brauronia by paying respects to the north Stoa and the temple site. We left the wilds of Brauron energized and ready to contiune our study of sanctuaries dedicated to the Olympian gods: next on the menu, Poseidon. Destination: the tip of Attica and Cape Sounion. In the presence of Lord Byron, who etched his name on one of the temple's columns, we felt the breath of Poseidon as we hiked along the bluff and viewed the splendor of this sacred precinct. Boarding Theodore's bus for the last excursion, we returned to the hotel and headed out to the Plaka for dinner. We celebrated Sara's sixteenth birthday with friends, both new and old, in the festivity of one of Athens' most renowned travel and tourist districts. Check out today's photo gallery.
Tomorrow we walk next door to the Acropolis museum to see many of the treasures of the Parthenon. Oh, by the way, a soccer game or should I say real football game tomorrow night in the Olympic Stadium. Go AEK!