Day 36 - Monday 10 May - Olympia to Delphi

Headed to Delphi today - first of all a visit to the ancient site of Olympia - this site was beautifully preserved - not too much ‘fixing’ and enough information boards for you to know what you were looking at. Watched a group of school kids having races on the ancient track.

 There were excellent plaques with information around the site, which was preserved with just the right mix of 'fixing' and leaving alone!

 I think he moved into lecture mode, but by then I was immune - and just went with the flow!!

 The entrance to the stadium - the plinths on the left were the remains of statues of people who had cheated in the Olympic games - they were immortalised here as a warning to the new competitors...

 Hard to believe it was in use so many centuries ago - we sat and watched a group of school children put it to modern day use, with their own races

After seeing the restored Stoa in Athens, we had no trouble working this one out... just as beautiful as the restored one, with the shade of the trees.


Drove along some of the most beautiful scenery again today - rivals the great ocean roads in both Australia and California…… just spectacular and not quite as winding as either of them - hugged the coast and there were numerous little hamlets along the way - if we were inclined we could have stopped for a dip at any of them…..

 Could NOT believe the drivers!!! This black one squeezed around us and the truck and then sat out there in front of all the cars waiting - it seemed on this trip that there were 4 lanes being used, when really there were only two.... Graham soon adjusted though and started to drive like a local in no time!!

 This is a gorgeous bridge connecting the Pelopponese with Mainland Greece - I think it was 2 kilometres long - it could be seen for miles around..... it reminded me of a huge ANZAC bridge -same suspension style.

 The approach was quite exciting - cars and trucks wizzing past, looking for the signs (none of which seemed to make sense) and listeing to 'our girl' on the GPS - good thing we had decided to keep our sense of humour!

 This is at least 25 kilometres away and still it dominated the view.....

 We managed to stop for lunch in one of the little hamlets - this was a lovely cafe - but no one spoke English and the menu was completely in Greek- the waitress had to get someone eating at the next table to help interpret - ended up with a delicious pork souvlaki

Just one of the many views around the bends - kept wanting to stop for a swim

 The view from where we had come - told you it was like the two Great Ocean roads (one in Australia the other in California) that we had driven

and then this little gem - the church in the middle of town - Delphi is approximately 3/4 of the way up the mountain in the background


Delphi is at the top of the hill, about 14 km in from the coast - basically like going from Sydney to Katoomba in 14 km- our hotel room view was just like the photo on the website of the hotel - high up and looking straight down the Corinthian Gulf….. Had a bottle of wine to relax down at a local café and then went to the archaeological site - another beautiful site - and at that time of day (7pm) no one else there - quite spectacular with the temples against the rocky mountains, especially in the twilight.

 The view from our room - the town from the photo above is a little above the middle of this photo - the olives looked like the river was still going down to the gulf.....

 The beautiful little church in the town square (probably the only flat piece of ground in the town...)

 We sat under this tree to have drink and then came back for a most delicious meal

 The international flags showed us the way to the archeological site

 The site sits right into the mountain - part of its aura is the setting - just glorious!

 No one was there- except the 'watchers' who were responsible for makin gsure no one touched the wrong thing

 the right time to go - as the sun was setting and the shadows lengthened

 This was the repository for many 'treasures' - not just the Athenians

 This ampitheatre had perfect pitch - I even managed to sing a note - the acoustics were perfect.... even if my voice wasn't!

We could see why the oracle lived here - such a special and spiritual place - it was my favourite of all the ancient sites we saw.

Went back to the café for dinner - Iannis asked us how our room was, as he had booked it for us!!! That Fantasy Travel - what a great connection we found the day I stumbled across it on the web.

Day 35 - Sunday 9 May - Nafplion to Olympia via Sparta

Mothers Day - left Nafplion about 10.15 to drive to Sparta - landscapes very different - from the shoreline around the bay from Nafplion, to fairly barren hillsides with the occasional farm as we headed towards Tripoli, to mountainous winding roads with sheer drops as we got closer to Sparta. Once we arrived in Sparta we were a bit disappointed to find the archaeological site in disrepair - a direct contrast to the Parthenon which we thought over done - from one extreme to the other, where this one is really just a pile of rocks with no explanations for anything. Only one other couple and a man with a guide book, apart from a creepy looking guy on a bike that seemed to follow us - still not sure if he was an ‘official’ or not….. Still we have seen Sparta and stood where they stood thousands of years ago…

 The ruins really were in a field just here .... no entry fee, no nothing really.....

 The view from the ruins down onto modern day Sparta - very 'sparse' feel to it even now - not very inspiring

The ruins of the Agora, we think...

 Those hills in the distance really did have snow on them - we thought for a while it might be sand, but met a guy in Athens later that told us the snow stays on the peaks until mid-summer.

 I was trying to find a tree to do a wee behind, but the creepy guy on the bike put me right off.... he was probably just doing his job protecting the site from tourists, but no badge or signs anywhere in sight.

The statue at the entrance to the sporting field in Sparta
 
Had lunch in the only restaurant we could see - the rest of Sparta really was very ‘Spartan’. Headed towards Kalamata on the south coast - straight into some of the most gorgeous scenery - mountainous and windy, but very beautiful - it reminded us of Oak Creek Canyon. Turns out there is a climbing park there - certainly some sheer rock faces to climb! This was where we saw the ‘overhangs’ of the cliffs where the road just goes under the cliff and it looks like there is nothing holding the cliff up!! Some of the most beautiful scenery we saw all holiday, but also a bit scary because the shitbox started making weird noises and Graham said it was the brakes - great - just as we needed to rely on them to get us down over the steepest mountain passes we had been on - made Italy look like a doddle!

Got a bit confused in Kalamata - thought we were lost and had to turn on the girl to try to find the way - but knowing her track record for taking us up dirt tracks, I was reluctant to trust her…. This time she was helpful and we headed towards Pirgos on our way to Olympia, along the coast rather than winding our way through the mountains again, even though it looked longer on the map.

Arrived in Olympia about 5pm - lovely hotel room with a view of the pool - had some drinks by the pool to wind down and then a short walk before dinner in the hotel restaurant.

 The view of the pool from our hotel balcony - not bad for a Best Western

 The valley view from the hotel garden

That's Olympia down there...

Day 34 - Saturday 8 May - Nafplion

Decided to climb up the Palamidi - the fort at the top of the hill just behind the harbour. Apparently over 900 steps - the lady at the hotel was surprised when we said we would walk rather than drive the car….. We thought of her about half way up!!! The climb was definitely a stretch, but worth it - the views were magnificent from up there…. So glad to be out of Athens and seeing some of the beautiful things Greece has to offer.
Spent the afternoon having some drinks by the harbour and then a bit of shopping. Got the card of the guys in the shop who also had make silver jewellery - will send anywhere in the world for 10 Euros…..
http://www.enigmajewellery.gr/ - gorgeous silver jewellery very reasonably priced.

Had dinner in a more traditional Taverna/restaurant - very nice, authentic food. Athens seems a world away.

 That's where we were headed... 900 to 1000 steps depending on who we believed.....

 Another Lion's gate

 It started to get steep pretty quickly - views on the way up were magnificent (just as well because we had to keep stopping for Graham to get his breath!!)

 Graffiti even on the plants.....

 It would have been easy if he wasn't carrying a 40 kilo backpack!!

 The 'old town' from almost the top

 The 'new town' - Daniel played waterpolo in the Australian Youth team in the pool next to the stadium

 Inside the walls was big enough to keep all the livestock if there was a seige.

Surreal - really gorgeous..... imagine the boats coming in from the mist.... and this was a 'clear' day...

Day 33 - Friday 7 May - Athens to Nafplion

Car was delivered to the hotel at 8.30 for our drive to Nafplion. Basically like driving the shit box but worse because we didn’t know this one’s history! The guy told us it was easy to get out of Athens - ‘turn left, then left, then right - follow the signs to Lamia and then take the Korinth exit’….. he was right! Managed to get out of Athens after a one hour traffic jam and also got on a road to Corinth - whether it was the right one is a moot point - we made it to the toll road eventually. Crossed over the canal before we realised, so missed our photo opportunity.

When we saw the signs for Mycenae we decided to detour - so glad we did - Graham was enthused by the Lion’s Gate (almost wet himself!!) and the thought that the history we were looking at was 3000 years old - must say I was impressed, too…. Fired up the GPS but the lady wanted to take us down dirt roads or roads that went into paddocks, so we didn’t pay much attention to her in the end…. She became our ’joke’ as we navigated our way around the Peloponnesus with just the maps from the Thrifty car guy. She did help us out once to confirm we were headed in the right direction, but that was another day……

 Seems so big up this close - but not so big when it is compared to the mountains around it.

 The entrance to the tomb of Thalos

 A replica of the golden mask of Argamemnon

 The famous Lion's Gate - and yet more school children to get in the way!

 The circle graves

 The hills we were to get used to over the next three days.... on the map it seemed so straightforward...

Nafplion is a beautiful town - it was the first capital of modern day Greece, when it first became independent. Took us a little while to find the hotel - lots of little streets that you can’t drive up.. When we did find it, we found a lovely room with high ceilings and shutters, with a balcony.

Had dinner down by the harbour and the waiter told us about the Venetian history - it did remind us very much of Italy, even though we didn’t get to Venice. Lovely buildings, with bougainvilleas growing across the road - very pretty.

 It was called the castle of Bourtzi, in the middle of the harbour

 Down by the harbour

 The harbour, with the Palamidi castle in the background - we walked up there the following day!

 Beautiful bougainvillea hung between the buildings in every street in the 'old town'

 It was a walking town - large squares and outdoor eating a feature

The view from our balcony - a glimpse of water