Wednesday: On returning the car, seeing the Temple of Olympian Zeus, marvelling at the Antikythira Mechanism in the Archaeological Museum, and enjoying the sunset with a bunch of drunk radiologists.
I returned the car in the morning, navigating Athens’ rush-hour traffic to deliver it downtown. I’m sure I crossed three lanes of traffic at some point and cut off a bus. Driving in Athens felt more like being in a computer game than being of any consequence. Glen went off to the conference for the morning and then returned at 11 with Anne for us to check out a few more of Athens’ sights.
Temple of Olympian Zeus
We’d purchased a combination ticket (€30) at the Acropolis which gave us access to other archaeological sites around the city, one of which being the Temple of Olympian Zeus. It was only a short walk down the road from our accommodation but the heat was already quite fierce and draining.
We got into the temple complex, took our photos and wandered around this impressively large temple still with a good number of columns standing (and one that had fallen over in the 1800s and been left where it lay).
The sun drained me of my energy and I was keen to get inside somewhere that wasn’t so hot. We walked up the road and flagged down a taxi which took us to the Archaeological Museum of Athens.
The Antikythira Mechanism
The main reason for going to the Archaeological Museum was to see the Antikythira Mechanism, the 2000-year-old ‘computer’ found at the bottom of the ocean. A bonus was seeing a whole lot of ancient sculptures and artefacts.
The Antikythira Mechanism, when we found it, was in pieces, separated out to show the cogs and the intricacies of a device that you wouldn’t think someone could make back then. It was an astronomical device and, according to the interpretation, matched up a variety of calendars with the movements of different planetary bodies. Or something like that. The mathematics involved made my head hurt.
We zoomed through a few more galleries, took our photos, read a few signs and then left to catch a taxi back.
ESGAR by the Sea
Glen and Anna returned to the conference while I had a nap. The conference dinner was held in the evening so we went along to that, boarding a bus at 7/7:30 and driving out of Athens down the coast. We stopped at a place that we passed on our drive down to Sounio. The dinner was held on a spit of grass and tree-covered land that jutted into the ocean.
We nabbed some comfy couches, drank our drinks, muscled our way through the crowd of hungry radiologists to get to the food, and watched the sunset. Magical setting, good food and ample drinks.
The event was meant to finish at 11pm but we opted to catch a taxi at 10ish back to Athens. It took barely anytime and we got home before 11. (If we’d stayed for the buses, we likely wouldn’t have got home until after midnight.) We socialised. We were content.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?