Greek Introduction: Baby in a Backpack - Day 9

The weather has turned cooler thanks to the storm front that blew through a couple of days ago, so temperatures are in the 60s today. It finally feels like fall weather. I’m glad because I brought a lot of long-sleeved clothes for both Troy and myself. Now we’ll actually get to use them.

Today, we decided to drive to Marathon to see the battleground and the lake. Decided being the operative word there. We were derailed from our trip by my mother-in-law, who suddenly decided that Troy needed some winter clothes. So after driving into Rafina to buy more clothes and then back to the house to drop my mother-in-law off, we didn’t have a lot of time left. We grabbed a souvlaki gyro and headed toward Marathon.

If you’re only familiar with the word marathon from the 26.2-mile run, but not it’s origins; then let me digress to fill you in first. The Battle of Marathon occurred in 490 BC, and is significant as the first Greek victory over the “invincible” Persian army. The Greeks, who were heavily outmanned, chose the battlefield in the swamps and mountains 25 miles outside of Athens to nullify the Persian calvary. It is widely romanticized that at the conclusion of the Battle of Marathon, Pheidippides, a running courier, was sent to Athens to tell them of the victory. It is believed that he ran the 25 miles, proclaimed “Joy, we have won,” and then died right there on the spot. The modern-day marathon is a tribute to this story to commemorate the run that cost Pheidippides his life. The modern-day battlefield consists of two mounds, which are the tombs of the fallen Athenian soldiers who died that day.

But we didn’t see that, or the lake for that matter. We got lost and ended up in Varnavas instead. Needing to get back to the house to give the car back to my mother-in-law, we pulled over on the side of the road and ate our gyros. After a quick feed and change of the baby, we headed back to the house. Not exactly the adventure we had planned, but an adventure nonetheless.