Santuary of Artemis , Ancient Brauron.

 

 After a very early 4am start to take Becca back to the Airport we have breakfast and then head off to finish seeing the sites around Rafina. We head back down the peninsular, our first stop being the Sanctuary od Artemis at Ancient Brauron near Vravona. This is a beautifully kept site is in a secluded valley. The largest structure is the Parthenon of the Bear Maidens, and yes I have spelled it correctly.

 

 

 

There is also a small chapel next to the base of the temple of Artemis.

 



And a stone bridge with the cart tracks from 480 BC still clearly visible. This was the main road to Athens in those days. Still in better condition than most" Italian "roads of today.

 



 

 

The museum on site held many artifacts from this site

 

 

 

 

From here we headed to Sounio and saw the Temple of Poseidon and then carried on up the very picturesque coastline of Attica

 



Athens

We have moved location to the other side of Athens near to the town of Rafina and Camping Kokkkino Limanaki. This campsite was also not open as advertised but they agreed to let us stay in the restaurant car park for three days at the full price once again.

This area is much busier and we drove down to Sounio at the southern tip to see if Camping Baccus was open.

It was but we did not like the look of it, run down and tatty.

So we stayed put at Rafina.

The next day Rob drove us into Athens, ably assisted by Sat Nav and Sarah. We got right up to the Acropolis gates amazingly and were met by a young man who offered to park our car for only five euros for the day. He did not want paying until we returned and gave us a official key tag as a receipt.

Climbing up the hill we enter the site and the first major building we see is the Theatre of Herodius Athicus AD 161

 

 

We continue up to the Propylaia with the
 

 

Temple of Athena Nike on the side.

 



 

 



 

The other Major monument was of course the Parthenon

 



 

From which of course the Elgin Marbles originate.

Its about time we gave them back.!

 



The Erechtheion with its porch of the Carytide

 



Heading back down we pass the Theatre of Dionysus

 



 

And then after a coffee over to Hadrians Arch AD131

 



And the temple of Olmypian Zeus

 

 

We carry on through Plaka, the old centre and favourite haunt of Lord Byron the Poet who set the standard by applying Graffiti to one of the monuments. Vandal.!

Not only did we steal their treasures we defaced them as well. Typical Aristo.

 



 

Next we pass Agios Nikolaos Ragavas and 11 century Byzantine chapel

 



And across to the tower of the winds a second century Water clock and weather vane.

 



Passing a small chapel of Panagia Gorgoepikoos, known as the little cathedral

 

 

,The last part of our tour was to Ancient Agora with its Triton statues.

 



And the beautiful Temple of Hephaisteion  449 BC

 



 

Seen here from the Acropolis

 



 

A wonderful day rounded off by still having a car when we returned.



Theatre of Epidaurus, The sunken city and Paragitsa beach

 

We picked Rebecca up from the Airport and then back to camping Bekas. A lovely site right on the beach with a very friendly owner.

Over the next few days we did some sightseeing around the local area.

 

We took our canoe out into the bay and headed off to see the sunken city. The remains of the walls, which are quite extensive, are clearly visible in the beautifully clear waters of the bay.

 

 

The next day we went into town and down to the harbour. 

 

 

 And then onto the small peninsular to visit the Small Theatre of Epidaurus.

 

 

The following day the weather was not so sunny so we headed into the mountains to visit the Sanctuary of Epidaurus. This healing centre was built in the 6th century BC  like the rest of the ruins we have seen. The Theatre here is huge and is renowned for its acoustics. Thankfully Rob did not try them out for once.

 

 

The site is known as the Sanctuary of Asklepios and covers a large area with many Temples and buildings and a Stadium for sports.

 

And also the Enkometrenon where the people were supposedly healed.

 

 

Our last day at Bekas saw Sarah and Becca off in the canoe again to Panagitsa, a small beach with a pretty chapel

 

 

And just for Becca a lovely Jellyfish.

 



Igomenitsa to Epidaurus



We arrived in Igomenitsa at 2.00 am after a slight delay and got onto the campsite at Drepanos after telephoning the owner who looked like he came straight from his bed. We had booked in advance and said it would be very late.

 

Click the link below for our route around Greece

https://www.polarsteps.com/SarahWhiteman/3933861-greece?s=00316DFC-7966-4288-8D5B-35E2189391D5

The next morning we back tracked along the coast to the port.

And then climbed up through the mountains.

And then back down to the coast

To cross over the bridge to the Peloponnese. Along the northern edge to Corinth, stopping for the night at the Blue Dolphin campsite which was officially closed, but the owner let us stay anyway. And did charge Full price.

The next morning  we drove down the eastern coastline to Epidaurus and camping Bekas which was thankfully open as advertised. Later in the day we took the scooter to the Airport to pick up our hire car for Becca's visit.