Today we had a semi-free morning, so a group of us decided to go see the Temple of Zeus and the Arch of Hadrian. Katy couldn't go because she sprained her joint above her foot (she said if she heard the word ankle one more time she would kill someone, so Katy that's the best I could do haha). We have decided we are quite the band of misfits or "The Land of Misfit Toys" as Barnes puts it. Greece is just a dangerous place for walking in general. I have fallen, slipped, tripped, and ran into anything and everything that just happens to be in my way. I am normally a clumsy person, but I have taken it to a whole new level here. And it's not just me....everyone seems to not be able to avoid wiping out at least once and we have only been here 4 days. One of us might not make it back. Seriously, even Barnes fell on the ferry today....we belong together haha. Anyway, the Temple of Zeus is pretty much destroyed (only like 14 columns remain of the over 100 that were originally used to construct it) but the sheer size of it was still ridiculous. I took a picture of Nick standing next to it and he looks like an ant standing next to it. To have seen it when it was originally built (which by the way it took 700 years to build, whoa!) would have been amazing. It spans the length of what I would say looks about like a football field and it just enormous. I still want to know how they built all this with no machinery or mechanical tools; no wonder it took so long! After the temple we went to do a little shopping. We only made it to one store before we had to head back to the hotel to check out. We got lost on the way back, paid for a metro that we didn't end up taking, and got a pretty good look at parts of city we hadn't seen yet (thanks Barnes haha). We went and grabbed a bite to eat then headed to the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion. I have to say that this is by far my favorite temple we have seen. It is not really in any better condition or more impressive than any of the others, but the setting of it was AMAZING! Cape Sounion is at the southernmost tip of Attica and right on the sea. The temple was set up high on this hill that looked out over the water on almost all sides. It was so gorgeous and serene at the top. The water is beyond blue and with the water hitting the cliffs below, I really could have just stayed up there all day. For anyone who doesn't know, Poseidon was the God of the Sea so it is very fitting that his temple has the view that it does. The ride to Cape Sounion was just as beautiful with sea surrounding us most of the way there. I can't get over the landscape here, just amazing! After that we headed to a little restaurant for dinner. As usual the dinner was good and today was Gabe's birthday (as well as my Mom's, Happy Birthday Mom!) so we had chocolate ice cream cake to celebrate. We then headed to the ferry that is going to take us to Crete. It's an overnight ferry and we have to be out by 6:45 tomorrow morning with a long day ahead of us. While I am not so excited about our early morning, Barnes tells us that our new tour guide is his favorite of the bunch (and I hear he is male model material, bonus!). I am attaching some pictures of the Temple of Zeus and Poseidon along with pictures of the beautiful view from the Cape for you to enjoy!
By the way, the song "Somebody That I Used to Know" is quite popular over here. Every modern little cafe is playing it on their stereos when we walk by. It's so weird to see the Greek people singing along, but also so cool that American pop culture translates over here to Greece!
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