We had the earliest breakfast we could to get to the trail for the archeological site of Karthaia before it got too hot.
There were a few obstacles on the way.

At the head of the trail we took a ‘before’ photo to compare when we made it back.

We found the track was a very rough rocky and steep way down to the site. It had been paved a long time ago but the rocks were very uneven, worn and slippery. We had to be careful placing our feet to make sure we didn’t trip and there were some quite large awkward steps down.
The hillside was very amazing with every little piece of the steep hills terraced – probably done over the last 2000 years.

After about an hour we arrived at the archeological site which is from 800BC. We were the only ones there apart from a yacht off the beach.

We first came to the theatre which could seat 2000 people. It’s very impressive.

The Romans built a bathhouse on top when they arrived around 400AD. The hypercaust heating tiles can still be seen.

There were around 1500 people living in this very remote town from around 600 BC.
The city was surrounded by walls with at least six entrances and towers to protect the area. Also, it boasted public buildings, laboratories, mines, a water supply system, and its own authorities and laws.

We then climbed up to the temple of goddess Athena (late 6th century BC) and the Temple of Pythion Apollo (530 BC). They were very solid structures made from huge slabs of marble.

Rock had been cut away to make a big flat space for the temple. You can still see the cut marks in the rock. A large retaining wall was created to support the temple from underneath.

We saw many artifacts from here also in the Archeological Museum of Kea yesterday including pieces of columns, inscribed blocks and statues.

Houses would have been located near the beach.

After all that climbing in the heat we went into the very inviting water and had a cooling swim. The old jetty was underwater – it would have been vital to trading and getting in and out of the settlement. It would have been too hard climbing the hills every time.

A dinghy from the nearby yacht couldn’t land on the beach as there were too many waves and they kept getting washed away from the shore.

After our swim we dried off and had a snack in the undercover area to give us the energy to get back up the hill.

Climbing up took less time than climbing down – only 56 minutes. It was more physical effort in the hot sun but easier to find our footholds. We stopped whenever we came to any shade.

We were relieved to reach the car.

We soon arrived back at the hotel and rested and cleaned up. Tsachi helped me a bit with the blog – its a bit delayed to having a few issues.

We then went out for dinner to a family taverna in the capital town of Ioulis.

Thankfully Tsachi speaks fairly good Greek as no one from the taverna could speak much English and was able to make sure we got our meals ordered.

We found a new delicious dish – Imam – slow cooked eggplant in caramelised onions, tomatoes and herbs .

We also liked the stuffed eggplant with mince and bechamel sauce – called ‘little shoes’ as that is what they look like.

Unfortunately the loukomades shop was still closed – much to Tsachis dismay. However Glenn and I had icecream. I had rice pudding flavour – very unusual and Greek but good.

We then drove back to the hotel and went straight to bed after that big day!