Athens Nothern, Southern and Suburbs

Imagine your life living somewhere in the hinterland of your country, far from the civilization, modernization, far from rowdy and blusterous sound of vehicles in the morning of Athens.

Envision yourself wandering in the your backyard with a scenic view of mountains, humming sounds of birds dominates, the evenly whisper of the wind that you can vividly hear, bountiful sources in the vicinity.

Athens

That would be really fantastic meanwhile suburban areas are in the middle of that quite ambitious scenery, it might be well most likely as in big cities where people became more and busier with technologies.

A part from framing myself into this deep imagination. I wanted to show you the other parts of Greece especially those who aren’t too far from Athens. A peck of taste from other cities nearby who gradually captivated my eyes for its stunning, and outstanding history.

Straight towards the northern suburb of Athens is Parnitha or Parnithos, this Art Gallery Exposition caught my attention, its repleted by famous greek paintings, culture, and other stuffs.

Art Gallery, Northern Athens

In respect to the artist who created this precious outcome, I won’t show specific photos, and videos from it. due to some unwanted intentions of other people to copy or imitate those images I won’t reveal them.

It’s a 30 – 35 minutes drive from Athens, getting to the right address was our first trouble. we first arrive at a residence place filled with houses. it was the GPS fault or rather the one who type the address.

A quick visit in the neighborhood, then a lunch in a sushi bar after the rain after we ran off to another destination Marathon or Marathonas.

Road View, Northern Athens

Lake Marathon or Marathon Reservoir

 A water supply formed from the Marathon Dam. It has a maximum height of 54 m and a maximum width of 28 m at the base and 4.5m at the crest.

Located at junction of Charadros and Varnavas known as the primary source of water to Athens since a long time ago.

Arriving at this place wasn’t to hard, just a bit rain on the way. after seeing this wonderful art Its makes you feel like being in the clouds.

There’s actually a restaurant found at the end of this bridge. it’s called Fragma and it has also parking space for vehicles, and you can eat or drink at the same time savour the panorama view of the Lake Marathon.

Marathon’s Town, Northern Athens

Reaching Marathon’s town in some minutes, rain fall comes crashing again it was really a bad timing. we ended up having coffee in a café, I havent took many photos from there.

After barging in the town, its time to see how the east coast looks like.

I was quite unsure, if it’ll look good as I have imagined, since it was raining all day It might turn into catastrophic situation. hoping for a good condition sea level we directly drive into this place nearby.

The East Coast

It turned out to be a quiet beach not even one tourist in the site, perhaps due to the bad weather and high tide-water. It was a prominent place, nice view, very calm and pleasant.

I would stay here for with a book in my hand sitting just in front of this stunning ocean.

Going to Marathon from Athens will take you around 50 minutes plus going to the seaside that’s about 5-10 minutes drive only. after this short pause with the ocean its time to go to the next destination.

Rafina Port

Another 40 minutes drive from Marathon to Rafina it was almost 6:00 pm when we got there. the place is almost dark without the sun anymore but still I manage to take some photos around.

It’s the second after Piraeus, not too far from the northern airport (Eleftherios Venizelos Airport). the destinations for the ferries at this port are within Evvia and the northern part of the Cyclades  which  are Andros, Tinos and Mykonos.

Sunset View in Rafina

Getting to Rafina, via Regional Bus the bus fee is 3 euros only, it will take 1 hour and 30 minutes from Pedion to Areos.

Taxi will cost you 30 euros, and will take 1 hour more or less depending on the traffic and same with car it will be the same.

Summarize Iterinary

Showing you our route map for that day, going out from Athens to Parnitha then from there to Marathon and after to Rafina and finally heading back to the hotel in Athens. We went out from Athens around 11:30 am and came back at night 7:30 pm.

It wasn’t really a planned tour for that day. as for me I really like to discover around by my means not of going through reservation for tours or others.

Car is the best option if you want to be free from thinking about all those bus schedules and other public transportations.

Additional information:

Going to northern part of Attiki is easier with car cause you don’t need to pay for toll fees, you have the option on your GPS to avoid toll fees. but of course you should compare the time that it will take.

Luckily the difference wasn’t that much so it was better with car. Gasoline price are pretty much lesser than the other european cities plus the distance is not that very far is won’t cost you a lot.

On the next day we’re going to some of the southern part of Attiki, next will be the most famous site, it’s the Sounion town.

Cape Sounion, Southern Athens

Getting to Cape Sounion will actually take 1 hour and 15 minutes via car depending on the road traffic.

It it’s widely famous for its ruins of the Ancient Greek Temple of Poseidon. as we all know Poseidon is the God of the sea according to classical mythology.

View from the Road

The Aegean Sea as you can see here in the picture, was named after the king of Athens Aegeus. he actually killed himself off the cliff when discovering that his son Theseus didn’t survive on the mission.

The son of the king of Athens volunteered to be one of those men, and made a promise to his dad to slay the Minotaur, which he actually did but too late when his father died having thought of him didn’t survive at Crete.

Temple of Poseidon

As what we hear from its history, mariners actually made a place where to sacrifice animals or gifts to the Goddess, (Poseidon).

The name of an Englishman poet is often mention in this site, his deeply engraved name “Byron” in the ruins makes him one of the famous poet in the history of Greece.

When we finally arrive at the site, I thought of getting to the temple but I don’t know what came into my mind I wanted to explore more the outside part of the place.

I roam around taking some pictures until it was almost sunset and guess what I could say. I have the most beautiful photos that I ever had in my life.

One of my best shots

After some great shots of the temple, I decided to take some pictures of the Aegean sea and its perimeter.

The sky was as its finest form, then suddenly there was a ferry passing by but it was very far for me to get a good picture of it.

Out of nowhere some I bump into some quails around, gathering up like having a family conference. At first I thought of just leaving them alone but at the end I end up chasing them like a soldier photographer.

Watching my steps til I get a little closer and took some photos of them, up close they are so much adorable.

Wild shots

Sunion is actually one of the most expensive areas in Greece. The temple is open from April through October, 8:30 am – 8 pm Admission fee is  8 euros reduced 4 euros.

There are a lot of package deal tour that you can avail to go to Sunion or even the Temple of Poseidon. about 30 euros and above including free snacks, wi-fi, and tour in the town of Sunion.

For more info you can always visit Cape Sunion

Greece Perfect Sunset

Heading back to Athens after the visit was kinda sad, I have to leave that wonderful place. On the other hand I had an outstanding experience with the most splendid sunset I’ve ever had in Greece.

We didn’t finish that day that way, we had an over stop in the road to see one of the most talked in the internet.

A site where a lot of tourists come to relax and enjoy the beauty of this rare and unique lake near Athens.

Lake Vouliagmeni

About the Lake

Has a labyrinthine cave which could be explored 3.123 meters of lengths at the edge of lake near the rocks starts.

Researchers have discovered a huge stalagmite in that area. included in Greece’s national NATURA 2000 network and as a Site of Outstanding Natural Beauty by the Ministry of Culture.

Location of the Lake

located across the street of the Vouliagmeni beach, you can reach here via Athens Bus or KTEL Bus that uses coastal road to Sounion. or take Metro if you prefer, take the metro line to Ellinikon and take the Saronida Express 122.

If you wish to know more info about the services and what they offer visit their official website here;  Vouliagmeni Lake

Other sites that you must definitely take a look are

• Ancient Rhamnous near Marathon,
• the town of Skala Oropou,
• Mount Parnitha,
• Perama,
• Pireaus,
• Santa Panteleimon, and many more.

Watch out for my next article, I’ll be featuring Ancient Corinth’s “Temple of Apollo“