A group of us who stayed in Athens for the Greek Orthodox Easter holiday decided to take a day trip out of the city to Marathon, about 24 kilometers to the northeast. We decided this around 10 p.m. Friday night and consulted our guidebooks as to the best mode of transportation to travel there. Although we threw around the idea of walking there, we ultimately concluded it would save time to take a bus. We discovered we could take the metro to a bus depot, where we could find a bus going to Marathon on the hour starting at 5 a.m. We decided to meet at 8:30 a.m., giving us plenty of time to walk to Syntagma Square, get on the metro and find the correct bus. The plan seemed unassailable.
Of course, nothing ever goes so swimmingly, especially abroad. We arrived at the bus station a little before 10 a.m., and a woman at a ticket kiosk pointed to the bus going to Marathon that was leaving in just a few minutes. When we got to that bus, however, the driver standing outside said it was not leaving until 10:30 a.m., and we deemed him a trustworthy fellow. After walking around the area for a little, we entered the bus, and just to be sure, we double-checked with the driver that the bus was indeed going to Marathon. Nope, he pointed to a bus down the line. So we quickly got off and found the driver of that bus, who spoke English well, and he assured us his bus was going to Marathon at 11 a.m. Finally, after what felt like an excruciatingly long morning, we were on our way. Although Marathon is only 16 miles from Athens, the drive took a little over an hour because of the continued stops along the way.
The man who spoke English ended up being the ticket collector on the bus, as well as the guy who can both aggressively demand passengers to empty their drinks before they board and kindly help the older women with their bags. He asked us where we were from, and after I said Pennsylvania, he asked if Philadelphia was the capital. I said no, it's Harrisburg but he's certainly not alone in thinking Philadelphia is the capital. And then he said something to my surprise that I still shake my head at in amazement; he asked me if I remembered during the primary when Barack Obama made the comment that Pennsylvanians cling to their guns and religion. So I of course perked up quite a bit, and we had a short conversation about his thoughts on American politics; he said his favorite politician is John Kerry, and he knew that Kerry and John McCain are veterans of the Vietnam War. I was impressed by how much he knew, but even more awed by the interest he showed in following the news from the states.
He kindly let us knew when we came to our spot and pointed us in the direction of the Tomb of the Fallen. In the Battle of Marathon, the Athenians defeated the army of the Persian Empire. At the site of the climax of the skirmish, an earth mound, or tumulus, was erected, covering the ashes and burnt bones of the fallen soldiers. It's surrounded by a multitude of wildflowers, filling the field with all kinds of colors, including chamomiles which emit such an incredible smell. A pathway leads visitors to the top of the mound, from where you can overlook the battlefield. However, we were asked by the woman at the entrance gate not to walk to the top, an order we begrudgingly obeyed.
But, I skipped an important part of the story. We walked in the direction the bus guy pointed to, a main road, but it came to a Y after a short while, and we veered to the left and continued walking until we arrived at the beach and the beautiful blue waters of the Aegean Sea...not what we wanted to see first, though. A gentleman at one of the beachfront restaurants told us to walk back along the main road and then we will see "lots of green" and the tumulus. Eventually, we saw a mound behind a fence and resolved it had to be the mound and finally found the entrance. It's a simple, secluded memorial for such a significant battle, but it's incredible that we can witness the burial ground of devoted soldiers nearly 2,500 years later.
Marathon is a sprawling city surrounded by gorgeous mountains, but it's definitely not ideal for visitors without access to an automobile. So from the tumulus, we walked back toward the main road where the bus dropped us off to hail a taxi to get to the archaeological museum a few miles away. There was one slight problem--there were five of us, and Greek law decrees taxis can carry only four passengers. The driver spoke a little English and said he would take only 4, but while we tensely decided what to do, who would split off, he waved all of us in and then charged us a few extra Euros. We were thankful, to say the least. We arrived at the museum a little after 2 p.m., just in time before its 3:00 closing. We browsed the artifacts and pottery found around Marathon, as well as a recently excavated Helladic tomb. The inhabitants of Marathon buried the dead in fetal positions in the corner of graves, leaving room for the remains of family members once they passed as well. It was both eerie and thrilling to walk among the tombs.
The owner of the museum kindly called for a taxi for us, but we did not have the same luck with this driver as our first one when it came to illegally transporting all five of us back to the beach. We split off into two groups, so three of us got in but immediately decided we would have him drop us off at the bus stop rather than drive us all the way down to the beach because he started our tab at 7 Euros...some Easter bonus, I suppose. We started a slow walk toward the main road leading to the beach, waiting to flag down the other two in their taxi, positive that their driver was charging excessively as well. We successfully found their taxi, and we were all back together and ready for the beach. We needed to make sure we were back at the stop in time for the 5 p.m. bus so we could get back to Athens in time for dinner at 8:00 with Professor Hurwit. It was about a 20-minute walk to the beach, but the gorgeous view of the sea and surrounding mountains certainly made the trek in the warm sun worth it. The beach was a little too rocky and the water too shallow for swimming, but we waded in, skipped stones and just basked in the sun for awhile. There was this father with his son, who was having a blast throwing stones into the water. Also, tractors kept going into the water to bring in boats, and we passed an older gentleman riding his bike with a loaf of bread in the front basket who waved and said "Yassas."
We made it back in plenty of time to catch the bus back to Athens. Utterly ravenous, we enjoyed a great dinner at a restaurant on the Plaka, with plenty of bread, red wine and Greek salad to go around. Then it was time to explore the Greek Orthodox Easter Eve -- check back soon for my impressions on Greek Easter!