We chose the sunniest, warmest day to drive south of Athens along the water, and explore some beaches. It wasn’t really warm enough to swim, but we were willing to give it a try, and for sure to enjoy some beach combing and exploring.
Our first stop was Lake Vouliagmeni, a brackish, partly enclosed lake, with water from both the sea and an underground spring. Because of this, the lake temperature is typically above 20ºC, and much warmer than the nearby sea. Thus, the lake is open for swimming all year round. 
The atmosphere at the lake is incredible; a craggy cliff looms above you as you swim in the blue-green water, little fish gather around your feet. We absorbed the sun atop patio loungers, played with cats (yes, cats even here), and just appreciated wearing summer clothes during the depths of February.
Kape Beach
After we left the lake for lunch, we stopped into a taberna for lunch, and went on a search for a beach. Reaching Kape Beach was a bit of an off-road (well, gravel road) adventure, but the serene loveliness of the spot made it worthwhile.
The girls climbed the cliffs, we searched for seashells and stones, and it was quite a few hours before we were finally on our way, wanting to make it to Cape Sounion in time for sunset.
Cape Sounion, home of the Temple of Poseidon, ancient Greek God of the Sea, built in the 5th century B.C., atop the site of an even older temple. I may have mentioned before, we have a huge Percy Jackson fan in our house. This temple was the pinnacle of temple-spotting for our Poseidon enthusiast.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the sunset. Tour buses and tourists flock here for the sunset, because it is spectacular. We, however, don’t really like to sit with 5 tour buses worth of spectators if we can help it, so we did things a little differently.
We arrived in the late afternoon sun, with only a few others present, and we toured the temple and looked at the carved in graffiti of over 100 years ago(!). Climbing along the cliff-side we actually found broken pieces from the temple, a bit alarming but maybe not surprising. Before we left we made a few seashell offerings to Poseidon for fun. Right as sunset was approaching (the sunset is quite long), and as all the tour buses had just pulled up, we drove the five minutes down the cliff to one of the seaside restaurants, and watched the sunset at the temple from there. Then ate a fabulous seafood dinner.
thecloudsarelowerhere 