Temple of Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest and mother of Persephone

Today we visited two archeological sites connected to Greek mythology, and then finished the outing with a visit to a small olive oil museum and tasting. In the afternoon we went to a beach, and for dinner we went into the Old City

Temple of Dionysus

Dionysus was the God of wine, theatre, pleasure, and excess. This temple was from the 7th C. BC and was rebuilt 3 times as it was destroyed by floods and was eventually swallowed up by silt from the flooding river. The site is rich with olive trees which are hundreds of years old.

Marble w/ crystal structure

VERY young olives

Grape vines

Grapes

Oleander

Ice plants

Ice Plants flowering

We drove further inland to the Temple of Demeter. The Island is quite mountainous and full of very small villages and farms.

Temple of Demeter

Demeter was the goddess of the harvest and the mother of Persephone. She was also the goddess of fertility and was responsible for the changing of the seasons: for six months of the year Persephone was with Hades in the Underworld, and Demeter was distraught missing her daughter so she ceased producing the harvest, causing winter. The other six months Persephone was on Earth with her mother and Demeter was happy, and so there was summer.