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.
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