We slept about 11 hours until well after 9, relaxed over breakfast.

We then took the metro to Syntagma to walk in the National/Botanical Gardens, entering on the west side. We walked around for about an hour, working our way (a little circuitously) to an exit on the east, and walked back to the hotel for some lunch.

We headed to the Hilton to meet up with a colleague of Larry’s and his wife (Steve and Lani Haddock) to take a afternoon tour to Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon (with Chat Tours), about a 90-minutes drive to the most southernmost tip of Attica. We had an excellent guide on the bus, who talked along the way, about Athens, about the coast, about the Cape. After leaving Athens proper, we headed along the west coast, passing Flisvos Marina, where we were on Tuesday evening, hearing about the coastal towns and their history as we went. After a quick stop a few minutes away to take some shots of the temple, we drove to the temple, where she talked for about 15 minutes and then left us on our own for a half hour or so. One of the most interesting stories about the temple is that the crew from ships that stopped there carved in the name of their ships. Also, the temple was graffitied in 1810 by George Lord Byron.

We then headed home, and instead of getting dropped off at the Hilton, the four of us got off near Syntagma square and ate at a fantastic vegetarian restaurant called Avocado. We shared an hummus/avocado mixture (we must make that at home) — I had an zucchini/eggplant lasagna with eggplant as the noodles and Larry had a vegetable paella with grilled tofu. Fantastic!

Then we walked back to our hotel to pack and get ready for the flight on Saturday.

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— Eileen Samberg