Photo: Nikthestoned (CC BY-SA 3.0)
A self-guided audio tour that begins on foot in the sanctuary at Cape Sounion and continues by car, with stops at the ancient ore washeries, in the town of Lavrion and at Thorikos. At Sounion, inside the wall Athens built in 413 BC so that the cape would not fall to Sparta and the grain ships sailing round it would be safe, the walk passes the Propylon to the Temple of Poseidon, built between 444 and 440 BC almost 60 metres above the sea, and takes in the ship sheds cut into the rock and the Sanctuary of Athena Sounias on the lower hill. In the hills toward Lavrion stand the washeries of the Laurion silver mines, where the silver that made Athens powerful was won. Lavrion's stops are the French Loading Dock of 1885 to 1888, the Mineralogical and Archaeological Museums and the Technological and Cultural Park in the works of the French Mining Company. At Thorikos the tour takes in the elongated theatre, an ore washery and the mine galleries beside it, the Mycenaean tholos tombs and the Velatouri acropolis. For cruise passengers this corner of Attica is a long drive from the pier, and the ship's own excursion is the safer choice.
15 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.
Going somewhere with no signal? Put the guide on your home screen first, then download it from that icon while you are on wi-fi — that way you download once, and it works in airplane mode with no roaming charges. Show me the order →
Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.
Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 90 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 17 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.
Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.
Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.
Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.
Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.
Fortification wall of Sounion, Propylon and Stoas, Temple of Poseidon, Ship sheds of Sounion, Temple of Athena Sounias.
Ancient Ore Washeries, French Loading Dock, Mineralogical Museum of Lavrio, Archaeological Museum of Lavrio, Lavrion Technological and Cultural Park.
Ancient Theatre of Thorikos, Thorikos Ore Washery, Thorikos Mine Gallery, Thorikos Mycenaean tholos tombs, Velatouri Acropolis.
Built by Athens in 413 BC so that the cape would not fall to Sparta and the grain ships sailing round it would be safe.
Built between 444 and 440 BC at the highest point of the cape, almost 60 metres above the sea, looking out on the sea routes to the Saronic Gulf and Piraeus.
Sheltered berths for Athenian warships, cut directly into the coastal rock.
Washeries of the Laurion silver mines, some partly restored at Souriza, where the silver that made Athens powerful was won.
A steel dock built at Lavrion's harbour between 1885 and 1888 to load ore onto ships.
An elongated theatre on the slope of Velatouri hill, its rows running straight and curving only at the ends.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 15 narration points.
Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.
Each site has its own narration. 15 narration points.
Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.
Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.
Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.
See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.
Every narrated point in Sounion, Lavrion and Thorikos — the Temple and the Silver, each with its own narration.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
15 narration points, including Fortification wall of Sounion, Temple of Poseidon, Lavrion Technological and Cultural Park, Propylon and Stoas and Ship sheds of Sounion. That is about 20 minutes of narration in all, and you walk between the stops at your own pace.
Yes. It plays in your phone’s browser as you walk: no guide, no group, no app to install and no fixed start time.
Three ways, all built in:
The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.
No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.
Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.
Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):
On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.
If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.
Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.
The audio runs ~3 hours, with the drives from Sounion to Thorikos total, but you walk at your own pace. 15 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.
One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.
Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.