When I first decided to go to Greece, the site I was the most excited about was the Parthenon. To be honest, I hadn’t heard about many of the other sites we were going to visit, and knew even less about them. But everyone has heard of the Parthenon, and seen pictures of the great ruins that stand tall over the metropolis of Athens.

In truth, though, it reminded me of New York City. You know that something is always nearby, but usually there are at least several buildings in the way, and you have to get on top of one to see what you expected to be able to see the whole time. Pictures are tricky that way. I still love the Parthenon, and the view of the city from the Acropolis was amazing, but it didn’t blow everything else out of the water like I expected it to.

My favorite site ended up being a different set of ruins, not so very far from Athens. It was tucked almost out of the way, on the tip of Attica and, unlike the Acropolis, there were maybe a dozen other people there. It was the Temple to Poseidon at Sounion. It is a temple in greater ruin than the Parthenon, but its columns still stand tall, looking out over the Aegean Sea on almost every side, a marker for all the sailors that pass by it. The Aegean is an unbelievable blue with green running through it. And since you can’t escape the sea anywhere around this hill top, it is an excellent setting for a temple to the god of the sea.

So Greece had a few surprises for me, but it didn’t at all diminish the Parthenon, or any place else we went. It’s hard to get rid of expectations, so instead of trying to do that, I would just say know your expectations will be completely ruined, but in the best possible manner. So don’t get too caught up in them before you travel.