We (Maria, Liz, Stavros and I) met outside the Arcadian center at 10:00am for our hike up the mountian to his find. We took a short taxi ride to the base of the mountain and then began the ascent. It was a warm morning ... I wasnt sure if I was going to make it up ... and we were hiking on a partly shaded path.
After reaching a dead-end on the path, we took a small path through itchy and pokey plants we ended up in a largest of the Roman quarries...
You can tell that you are passing a quarry because you will see something that look like this ... Mt Hymettos is known for it blue-ish marble.
After resting in the shade of the quarry, we set out again on a path that Stavros had marked with red paint. It had even more itchy and pokey plants ... but we finally came to the "Dragon's Cave". It is called the Dragon's Cave because of the size of the giant rocks. It is a megalithic structure, built right onto the side of the mountain. It was so cool. Inside he had found a transportable alter.
(The roof of the structure with the peak of Hymettos in the background ... sorry, I just noticed it is sideways.)
(The view through the main doorway. )
Stavros is not sure exactly when the structure was built. There are two theories ... the first is that it is pre-historic from when tribes used to live on the Mountain. The second (and the one that Stavros believes) is that it is from 480-460 BC when Persian were enslaved by the Greeks and put to work in the quarries for Perikles projects.
Stavros also found two more, but they are only remains. After WWII, during the revolution the Communists hid on Hymettos. The Britts bombed it and the two building were probably destroyed then, he thinks this because he found metal shards that are remains of a bomb.
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