Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Kardymili August 9, 2014
Today we needed to purchase the groceries that we will need for tomorrow because it's Sunday and most businesses are closed. This is true whether it's a grocery store or a restaurant or a tire shop. Makes planning ahead important.
We went in search of a grocery store and filled our cart with Greek salad ingredients, water and snacks. We had picked out a beach to spend the day at and we were so focused on finding it we passed right by the grocery store without acknowledging it was there. When we reached the beach ( the only sand beach for many miles) it was a repeat of the experience Carrie, Annelle and I had in Chalkadiki. Body, to body...to body! Not our idea of fun so we decided to move on to another beach but went in search of the supermarket first. Having missed seeing the market we were in search of we drove 20 minutes out of our way saying "I thought it was right here..." to each other.
We finally decided to turn around when we reached a town that we passed through a few days before and rejected the idea of a return visit because it was too far away. We stopped to take a few photos and the minute I stepped out of the car an elderly gentleman called out to me from across the street "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" I gave him my standard "ein bissen" and suddenly we were having a conversation about where I learned German, his university studies in Germany, and no.. I am not from Holland. I have really got to learn more German vocabulary because no matter what country I go to people want me to speak German.
After our photo stop we found the grocery and took care of that errand and we found a different beach than the one we were headed for. What a stroke of luck because even though it was a stone beach (and who doesn't prefer sand??) it was a double cove and had gorgeous rock formations and a tunnel under one of the rocks that I swam through, and rocks that I jumped off. It was beautiful scenery and fun on top of it! It was great to have a lazy day without the need to climb some mountain too.
We ate dinner outside at our little table and fought off an unprecedented number of bees but it was so pleasant to sit next to the grapevines loaded with green and purple ripening grapes while eating a Greek salad in Greece!
Monday, August 11, 2014
Monemvasia to Kardymili August 8, 2014
After checking out of our hotel we set out to see the sights of Monemvasia. What we didn't expect was that the upper city (the ancient, most interesting part) is closed due to renovation/ safety measures. This happens at least once every trip but it never gets easier to take. We had driven many hours to see this area and to have it be closed was very disappointing.
We enjoyed wandering through the newer town (which is still old), taking pictures and exploring small alley ways and all the nooks and crannies of the town. The entire town is closed to vehicles which always makes for a more peaceful experience.
We climbed the pathways to the doors of the church that signaled the beginning of the old town. The doors to the church had a large lock on them but it was unlocked.... I was planning to try to go through them once the group of Italians sitting and blocking the path moved on. Finally they stood up, opened the doors and began to file through the open doors! Luck was with us and we had access to the old city! Until the Greek man with them looked at me and said "no!" A woman who seemed to be the leader of the group explained "it is dangerous, you can't come in". Wishing I had more Italian to cajole her with, I pressed my case in English hoping she would allow us to join their group. No such luck, which was doubly frustrating knowing that all you needed was to know the right people and suddenly the site really wasn't closed after all.
After Monemvasia we made the 3.5 hour drive to our next destination, Kardymili, an smallish village on the Mani Penninsula. We had booked an apartment for our two night stay and finding it only required query of one barkeep.
When we arrived the owner didn't speak much English but we could discern that she assumed we wanted to rent a room without a reservation. She told us "fool, fool" we said "it's ok, we have a reservation" and I showed her my iPad copy of our booking. She looked at the dates, decided we wanted two nights stay and began to call around to her friends to see who had room to take us. She finally found someone who said they would come to pick us up. Every time we tried to make her understand that we had a reservation she shushed us and made another call! Finally a young woman walked by and she spok English and Greek so she translated to us what Stella had done for us. We explained the situation to her and she translated. Suddenly Stella's taxed look turned to smiles and warm Greek cheek kisses with pantomimes of " Stella's eyes only see two and think four!" Ah, now we understood the confusion... We were supposed to be three people ( in a room that accommodates four) and only two showed up (no Lauri). It didn't register with her that we were the group she expected.
She showed us to our room and asked if we would like Frappes. Sure! She returned with our coffees and she also brought "Stella make, no supermarket" cookies. As we unloaded our cooler into the fridge Stella came back with a huge slice of watermelon. When she went to put it in our fridge she saw my box of orange juice and rushed off to bring me "fresk" oranges so I could juice my own. "No supermarket, only fresk". Fresk it is!
We got directions to the local stone beach from a small grocery store and spent a lovely, relaxing evening floating in the sea. After our beach time we went back to the small supermarket to shop for Greek salad ingredients. We have attempted to "pay back" people who have been helpful to us throughout our travels.
Monemvasia August 7, 2014
Our plan was to catch a reasonably early boat from Hydra back to Metochi because we had a long 5.5 hour drive ahead of us today. We checked the timetable and chose the 10am boat.... Except when we arrived at the harbor we discovered that we had misread the timetable. The 10 am boat was from Metochi to Hydra not Hydra to Metochi....
After arriving back in Metochi we ate lunch and then hit the road for Monemvasia. Monemvasia was a place I particularly wanted to visit. Things I had read about it made it sound very intriguing and also fun. In addition to the ancient site I had read about people jumping off the rocks below the old city into the sea and that really appealed to me.
Athena made the trip easier once we decided to follow where she wanted to take us. Originally Deiann, our navigator, plotted a alternate route for us but the Greek roads with little to no signage made it an impossible task and we took the "scenic route" for the first couple of hours. It was a very mountainous (read twisty roads with hairpin turns and lots of uphill) road and rain near the end made for interesting driving.
As we arrived in Monemvasia, I spied our place for the night, which was fortunate because we thought that it's location was in an entirely different location. We checked in and did a little sink laundry and then I headed out to jump off some rocks. The weather wasn't what I had hoped it would be with the persistent storm hanging over the Peloponese, however the swim was still fun. Deiann had the beginnings of a headache and decided to stay back for a little rest.
Dinner and then bed. How could it be midnight already????
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Hydra August 6, 2014
This morning we had breakfast at our stone house hotel and then we were on the road to Metochi, the harbor town where we would leave our car and take the 20-30 minute boat trip to Hydra, an island off the coast.
Deiann and I both tend toward seasickness so I did a lot of research early on in the planning of our trip and found out we could take this 20 to 30 minute ferry to Hydra instead of a 2 1/2 hour ferry from Pareous which is the port of Athens. I had my acupressure bands and Dan had her Dramamine and we were prepared for the journey. I waited until the very last second until the boat owner was putting up the pier before I boarded the boat boat. We rode on top of the deck outside and the trip was trouble-free and fairly calm, breezy and uneventful.
The approach to Hydra is into the main town and it's a beautiful little port with all kinds of quaint and charming buildings. We watched people jumping off the rocks into the beautiful aquamarine sea as we approached, and the port was full of yachts and small pleasure craft.
We had directions to our next place that told us that it was a 22 minute walk straight up hill on a crooked and curving back street. We knew we were in for a walk upon arrival so we lightened our backpacks by leaving a lot of our extra unnecessary items in the car back in the Metochi. We disembarked, put on our packs and grabbed our extra bags and we put our heads down and started walking up the hill once we found our street. The day was brutally hot and muggy as we have come to expect. It didn't make the trip anymore comfortable that the street was in full sun at midday. After walking for a period of time I stopped a stranger and asked him if he knew the location of our hotel. He wasn't familiar with it so we trudged on. Several minutes later we found a shady spot and asked the next passerby about the hotel. " it's downhill past the supermarket on the left". Supermarket? DOWNHILL? Bummer. I was probably standing directly across from it when I asked directions of the first guy.... The problem was the map's quoted walking time.... Not 22 minutes.
We found our accommodations, an apartment at the top of the hotel. We chose this place because of the sea view from our attic room. The owner really knows how to run a place and keep the people happy. He stocks two large bottles of water in the fridge for you when you arrive, as many clean towels as you need for the beach, and if it's time to check out and you still want to go to the beach, he has a shower available for you after your swim before you get back on your departure boat. All thoughtful little extras for travelers.
After settling in we put on our bathing suits and went for a walk into town. We spent some time window shopping and Deiann found some jewelry that she was possibly interested in purchasing has a souvenir. We promised to come back to the shop later in the evening when the owner was there. She was the woman who could make Deiann a special price offer on the jewelry.
Some dark clouds had rolled in and we were hoping if we went to a few more shops that when we came out the weather would have cleared up so that we could go to the beach. No such luck because by the time we came out of the final shop the weather had turned for the worse and we could see lightning off shore. Smart enough not to go in the water during a lightning storm, we walked to the top of the hill and sat on a bench and watched the storm roll by. Temperatures cooled slightly and the wind blew from all directions blowing our hair around and cooling us off.
As the storm calmed down we made our way back to the main harbor area and sat in a waterfront café for a cocktail (and a milkshake for me ;-) ) We enjoyed some time people watching and I Face timed with Tom for a few minutes before we headed back to the jewelry shop. Deiann and the shop owner agreed on a price and she is taking home two beautiful pieces of jewelry that are both very Greek in their own way.
Deiann found a restaurant recommended by my friend Rick Steves in his Greece book. We decided to try it out because he recommended their Meze (which are hors d'oeuvres) and we planned to make a meal from them. We stopped for us directions from two different shop on earth before we found the restaurant. We were seated after a short wait and we placed our order with the waitress. They brought our food right away but told us that the main item that we wanted to try was sold out so they brought us Tzatziki instead. We like Tzatziki but things went downhill from there. At one point the electricity went out in the entire restaurant which was kind of funny, and we sat in the dark surrounded by people eating by the light of their cell phones perched on their water bottles until 20 minutes later the restaurant finally got out candles. They never brought us our wine, they never brought us our watermelon and we had to ask for the check multiple times over an hour period of time before we finally decided to get up and try to pay downstairs on our way out the door. The entire time we waited for our check there were multiple parties waiting to be seated so they were losing business continuing to make us wait.
We went back to our room and enjoyed a glass of wine from our own bottle outside on our balcony overlooking the beautiful night time view of Hydra harbor.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Nafplio August 5, 2014
Our stone room includes free breakfast so we headed up the fifty plus stairs to the breakfast area. When we arrived people were buzzing around everywhere like bees around a hive. Apparently everyone had decided to wake up and have breakfast at the exact same time and the entire hotel's rooms were emptied into the breakfast area. The three brothers that run the hotel were overwhelmed with everyone wanting to eat breakfast or check out at the same time so our day started off in a slightly hectic manner. Once we finally got a table things quieted down and we had the place almost to ourselves.
After enjoying a full breakfast of coffee and tea, hard-boiled eggs, olives, yogurt with honey, and breakfast pastries along with fresh watermelon, we headed out to see the town of Nafplio. We saw the sites and did a little window shopping because Deiann is still looking for the perfect Greece souvenir to take home.
We happened upon a cupcake shop that had a sign saying they make gluten-free cupcakes on Sunday and of course it was Monday. I went inside just to check to see if they had any leftovers (no such luck and the baker had gone home for the day) and the owner was friendly and helpful sending us on to our next destination.
We returned to our room to cool off for a while before heading out to see the Palladi Palace.
The palace has 999 steps leading up to it which Deeann had originally planned to climb. Due to the grueling heat and the relentless pace that we have kept the entire trip she decided riding with me to the top of the palace in the car was a better idea.
We clambered all over the rocks and walls of the fortress with the reward of incredible views of the entire city of Nafplio and surrounding coastline. We went to the staircase and climbed down the first 70 stairs just to see what it would be like and we encountered several groups of young people who had climbed up from the bottom. The sun was beginning to set and the views were spectacular.
As we were ready to leave the the fortress we encountered a frantic father who was searching for his young daughter Alice. Deiann and I both felt like we couldn't leave until the situation had been resolved. We had obtained a description of Alice and what she was wearing from the father and we watched diligently for her as we approached the exit. As we reached the exit the father came up behind us with his happy to be returned daughter. We were relieved not to have to go home wondering if he had ever found Alice.
We had intended to return to our room and get ready to go out for dinner but once we were there we were so exhausted we had cheese and crackers, a little Internet time, and went to bed early. Tomorrow we are off to Hydra Island.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
On to the Peloponnese August 4, 2014
This morning we dropped Kim and Danielle off at the light rail station. It is the train that was taking them into Athens where they will stay in an airBnB apartment for the evening and then they willdriven to the office airport for their trip home. Deiann was nervous to send them off by themselves so we waited at the train station until their train arrived and they were on their way.
After dropping off the girls Deiann and I made a trip a quick trip through Lidel grocery store to pick up a few things we would need like water and cheese and crackers for lunches. We grabbed a couple of bottles of wine and the makings for Greek salad and we were on the road.
We drove south following Athena's directions with a destination of Epidavros. We stopped along the way at a smaller ancient theater that we saw a sign for ( benefit of having your own vehicle). We had a little problem following signs through the small town so we pulled into the harbor area, got directions and walked to the site. It was much less impressive than the main site that followed.
Epidavros is the site of ancient ruins including the largest amphitheater in Greece. The amphitheater was discovered within the last hundred years or so, unearthed after having been buried for centuries. The original theater was built by the Greeks and an upper section of seats was added by the Romans during their occupation, ultimately creating seating for 15,000 people. The theater is still used for performances today and the acoustics are amazing.
After our visit to Epidavros we found our hotel in Nafplion. This hotel is fulfilling Deiann's wish to stay in a stone room. We are situated at the foot of a castle, and the walls of the room the desk, and our bed are stone. It's a great room and our splurge at $60 per person per night. Our average in general has been between $18 and $25 per person per night. The rate generally include breakfast.
After checking in to our room we jumped back in the car and went to see Mycenae. Another ancient site, the Mycenaeans lived from the 15th to the 13th century. We stopped first at the Treasury of Atreus or tomb of Agamemnon. What an amazing experience! After the first few minutes we were completely alone inside this massive beehive shaped tomb. The lintel above the entrance is massive and close to 10 times the weight of stones in the Great Pyramid in Egypt. We took pictures and the soaked in the ambiance of this ancient place. We touched the walls in amazement that people that many thousands of years ago had touched. A moment of mind blown- ness for sure!!
Next we visited the main site where we climbed to the top of the palace and took in the views of Ancient Mycenae and Argos off in the distance. We took Deiann's phone flashlight and descended into a thousands of years old cistern to explore the interior. It was 99 steps down into pure slippery staired darkness. It was so nice and cool down there, especially compared to the still blistering 7 pm heat above.
A visit to the small museum followed before we returned to our hotel for a simple dinner we prepared in our room.
Back to Corinth August 3, 2014
We checked out of our Athens hotel and signed the car papers for the Peloponnese portion of our trip. We had the car company deliver the car to our hotel so we didn't have to schlep our backpack and all of our other gear onto a metro. Great decision!
We drove (I should say "I" here because I am the sole driver now that Lauri isn't with us.... The best laid plans....) the hour + to Corinth from Athens. I managed to escape the worst of Athens driving because we got out of town before most Athenians' day had started.
We drove straight to our place in Corinth and because it was before 11 am our room wasn't ready. We decided to go to see the Corinth site and have some lunch before we returned to our pension. I sat outside the site in a small park and enjoyed a few moments of solitude and a snack while Deiann, Danielle and Kim toured the site I had seen 5 weeks before. We shopped the Main Street (about 6 small souvenir shops). The other three ladies enjoyed 2 euro gyros in the park and then we returned to unload our bags in our room.
Our rooms at the pension turned out to be the most spacious rooms yet except for our stay at Grandmas House. Our suite has two bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. We booked it planning to have two extra people so we had even more space than expected.
Kim stayed back at the rooms for some solitude while the rest of us went to the train station to purchase the departing sisters' tickets back to Athens. After the train station we drove through modern Corinth and found a small beach for our afternoon swim. We spent the evening hanging around taking care of various tasks and the girls packed up the extra items their mom decided were't necessary to her for the rest of our trip.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Protest
A group of demonstrators (mostly dressed in black)showed up where we were standing viewing something during our tour. We left and moments later at least 4 police cars and vans rushed past us on a pedestrian only street to get to the scene.
A funny thing happened on the way to our "My Athens" tour August 2, 2014
There is a program available through the Greek government called "My Athens". On their website you fill out a questionnaire about your likes and interests while in Athens and they match you up with a volunteer with similar interests. Arrangements are made to meet with your volunteer and you spend three hours together seeing Athens. This morning we met a proud Athenian named Makis.
However, I first have to tell the story of "it happened on the way to meet Makis".
We were scheduled to meet Makis at Syntagma Square at 9 am near the metro station. We arrived exactly at 9:00 after a 20 minute walk from our hotel. We were supposed to have a picture of him but in the photo we saw his face was in shadow so we weren't certain exactly who we were looking for.
After a few minutes I spotted a man that I was sure was Makis, and Danielle agreed so I walked up to him and mispronounced his name (adding an extra R in there somewhere ), reached out and shook his hand while he looked a tiny bit confused. I assumed this was because of the mispronunciation of his name. I said we are the people you are here to meet. "How many of you are there?" He asked. This seemed a natural question because we were originally scheduled to be 6 on the tour before Lauri and Gina had to go home. I said "four". He responded by saying " ok, give me a minute" as he walked into the metro. Hmn... Is he going to buy us all metro passes? I gave Deiann the thumbs up that he was our guy and she and Kim joined Danielle and I while we waited.....and waited..... Uh huh....we waited. Did he not like the looks of us? Did he have to use the bathroom? Did he change his mind for some reason??? After almost 20 minutes of pondering what to so now, Deiann suggested I check my phone " he possibly wants us to join him someplace else?"
I was the designated contact person so I got out my phone and there was a message from Makis sent 10 minutes prior telling us he was waiting at a different metro exit. I texted back and told him where we were and asked if he could come to us because he was familiar with where we were. He agreed.
What the heck is going on??? Did we have the wrong guy? Yup... The real Makis appeared and was a totally different man than the one I had basically accosted earlier!!! We had been waiting at the wrong exit the whole time. What we continue to wonder is WHAT THE HECK WAS UP WITH THAT OTHER GUY??? Why didn't he just say " you have the wrong person??? It cracks me up every time I replay the situation in my head!
As far as the real Makis, what a great guy! He was funny and interesting, very well educated and informed about his city. The city is very close to his heart and that was so refreshing to see!
He took us on a three hour tour that encompassed all of the important sites of the ancient city. We started in Syntagma Square in front of the building that is the center of Greece. All distance measurements in Greece whether in Athens or one of the islands is measured from that location. Makis was not allowed (as dictated by the My Athens program) to accompany us into any of the ticketed ancient sites but we saw many as we passed. He explained the purpose of many of the monuments, gave us some history about things we saw, and shared his personal philosophies about many topics, modern and ancient. He educated us regarding the ancient Greek's beliefs in the twelve Gods and why graffiti is so prevalent in modern Greece. He explained how ancient uneducated people used some monuments and all churches as a compass (the entrance to the churches faces west), and he pointed out Koress, a modern personal care products company that uses only botanicals in its products.
We were sad when our time with Makis was finished. We had hoped to thank him by taking him to lunch but he had Saturday chores to attend to so we said goodbye when we once again returned to Syntagma Square. Makis, thank you so much for giving up half of your Saturday to spend it showing us your beloved city!!!
After leaving Makis we found our way back to Plaka and a small, quiet, family run restaurant. It had a vine shaded patio where I enjoyed rice stuffed tomatoes and everyone else had Mousakka (a dish raved about each time someone in the group eats it). Water and Mythos ( a Greek beer) accompanied our meals.
We headed home with plans to climb up Lycabetus Hill after a little Mesimeri. I wrote a blog post and edited photos while the ladies napped. Everyone woke up reluctant to tackle more walking after days full of walking and climbing so we chose lazing on the rooftop terrace as the sun went down and the lights of the city came on. We ate a very European hour, enjoyed a double scoop of ice cream at a really eclectic place called The White Rabbit, and packed our bags at midnight in preparation of our trip to Corinth the next day.
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