After a few days of enjoying the villa, lying by the pool, and slowly turning into a solid piece of feta, we planned a little day trip out to visit the Saint Efraim Monastery and then the Museum of Marathon. Both places are within a 30-minute drive of the villa, so after a few cups of tea and watching the sun come up, we had some toast and made our way out.
Be mindful that if you visit the Monastery, it opens from 7am – 12pm, but closes until 4pm, and is then open until 6pm. It is free to visit and there is plenty of parking, but be mindful to dress respectfully, as this is a sacred monastery.
Whilst I am not religious, this really was such a special, architecturally beautiful and calming place to visit.
It’s not huge and you won’t need hours to walk around, but I really recommend a visit – there’s magic to the place even if you don’t believe.
There is a part of the monastery where you can’t take photos as it is sacred and holds the remains of a Saint, dressed in robes. A slight surprise to see, but also quite amazing.
After we finished marvelling at the monastery, we headed to the Museum of Marathon – I really wanted to visit here as in Marathon (and lots of Greece), there is so much history to appreciate and learn.
There’s an entry fee of €6, which is a total bargain for what you get to see – you’ll spend much longer in here than you did in the monastery once you make it past the welcoming committee.
Do you realise what you’ve just looked at there? You’re looking at beautiful pottery that was made over 2,000 years ago – absolutely incredible and look how fantastic it still looks. Imagine making something and more than 2,000 years later, people are still marvelling at your creation and knowing it still exists. Truly mind-blowing.
Then we moved on to even more incredible and impressive pieces, that weren’t behind glass and awe-inspiring.
There’s so much to take in, but this gravestone really struck a cord with me – there’s the deceased youth, his faithful companions in life, a dog, young servant and a bird. This is estimated to be 340-330 B.C.
There’s also burial grounds just outside of the museum, where you can see remains and actually how they buried their lost ones. You can take pictures and I even took a video, but I deleted them as it just didn’t feel right and it was actually a very emotional experience, but in the best way possible.
After a fabulous few hours, there was nothing left to do other than grab some lunch.
Everywhere we went, I ordered shrimp saganki – I can’t tell you how much I miss eating it on a daily basis!
A twice daily order of Greek salad – nothing beats this salad, eaten in Greece, next to the water, with the love of your life, drinking wine, that you order either a whole litre or half a litre of. Man alive, I love Greece.
Dave’s favourite, saganki – basically fried cheese, which we all know is never a bad idea.
Fava bean dip, smooth, moreish and deliciously dunkable.
Followed by a long walk down the beach, before heading back to the villa to relax.
Can I go back to Greece now please?
A x
Abi in the Garden 