1 May,
Tuesday
Today is Labour Day (May Day) in Greece, and it is a national holiday. Even many of the tourist sites are closed. Most of the places we were to explore we could not enter.
We were able to get up a little later this morning: the bus didn’t leave until 8:30. Marieka first had Demetrius take us up to the Castle of Palamidi overlooking Nafplia. It was an impressive view of the city. This fortress is under restoration. We could not enter, but we could see that repair and maintenance on the walls were done with the intent of keeping the building standing, not maintaining the integrity of its antiquity.
We then moved on to Mycenae to visit the city fortress there, but of course this site was closed as well. We had to settle for the local gyide to explain everything from the outside. This was of course another story of war and treachery even among families. This myth was about Agamemnon, hero of the Iliad, the daughter he killed, and his brother Atrius What we were looking at were the archeological digs. Not much of material value has been found there, but the acrchelologists have located beehive graves, the palace on the top of the hill (the Actopolis), and many other houses in groups as they word thier way down the mountain. Nothing was left in the graves to identify the person buried there. The date from the 1th century BC before these people had developed a script.
We then moved on to the Agora Art Gallery. This was actually the showroom of a workshop that turns pottery, hand paints it and the bakes them in the kilns to produce original porcelain in the old styles of the ancients. Thay also sold ceramics cast in moulds and with designs applied with decals. We bought some souvenirs at this shop.
We went to the King Menelaos Restaurant for a late lunch, then drove on to Sparta. Sparta does not have much saved from the past. There is an archeological site, but notmuch is left in it. Most of the materials had been removed for “recycling” before antiquities had become very important.
NO PICTURES TODAY FOLKS. WE'RE BOTH REALLY TIRED. Dick
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Post on 1 May
Despite our late arrival, we didn’t sleep that late. After breakfast at the hotel we went for a walk to try and find a store the front desk told us might have an adaptor for our N American style plug, good thing I didn’t buy one in Spain as they are different here. We couldn’t find it so returned to the hotel. Later I went out alone and asking directions several times and walking by the shop about 4 times, I found it. No, they didn’t have them but they gave me good directions to a hardware store that did.
We tried to catch up on the time change. For lunch we went to Greek’s answer to MacDonalds, It’s called ‘Goody’s’, yes, just like the place in the Bayview Mall which is run by a Greek. The Gyros were really good. Again we spent the afternoon relaxing and went for a dip in the hotel’s “laps pool/whirlpool”. It wasn’t very hot and we had trouble getting the ‘features’ to work properly, but it did feel good.
The optional evening out was postponed until the end of the tour as several of the group only arrived shortly after 7 pm. There was a meeting of the group where logistics were settled.
29 April
Sunday
Sunday has most things closed but we took the optional cruise of three Greek islands, Hydra, Poros, and Aegina. The only motorised vehicles on Hydra are the fire truck and the ambulance. All other travel is by foot, donkey or mule. Eva bought a cap to replace the one she left in Barcelona and a lovely ceramic bell. We decided not to take the extra excursions on Aegina and visited a few shops then went to the beach and dipped our feet in the Aegean Sea. Nothing more as is was Lake Ontario temperature. We followed this with a drink in a local waterside restaurant of wine/Greek beer.
We found the cruise was crowded and noisy. The meal they served on board was a sampling of some Greek foods. Eva liked some and not others. I wasn’t impressed, feeling it took a special talent to make chicken breast tough and stringy.
30 April
Monday
On the bus at 8 am, yuck! A tour of Athens with a visit to the Acropolis and the temple, currently undergoing reconstruction. I climbed on the rock at Mars Hill one of the places where the Apostle Paul preached to the Athenians about Christ. We have so many photos it will probably be necessary to wait till we get back to show them.
At Corinth we viewed the canal that Nero proposed building and it was obvious why it was abandoned. The walls are 52 metres high at its highest point. The Corinth Canal is a 6.3 kilometre-long (3.9 miles) cutting through the Isthmus of Corinth which saves small ships a journey of about 700 kilometres (430 miles) between the Sarconic Gulf and the Aegean Sea. We shared a Greek salad and souvlakia for lunch. It was delicious!
Next we went into the Epidaurus where we visited the ancient open-air amphitheatre at Epidaurus which can seat 14,000 people and is still used during the summer months. We were lucky enough to be on the top tier of seats when a group tried a choral rendition on the ancient stage. We could hear them fine and I think I have it captured on video, with sound.
When we arrived at Nafplia, where we would spend the night, the group checked into the hotel, had an hour’s free time, then met our tour director in the hotel lobby to begin our evening’s activities.
We boarded a small caigue (motor boat) and the pier, and road out to a The Fortress of Boutzi, small fortress in the middle of the harbour. Originally constructed for the defence of the harbour, it has also served as a prison and later as the “hangman’s castle”. The local hangman lived out there, and people were brought to him when sentenced to death for whatever reason. It is now an historical site.
When the group returned to the mainland, we had a traditional Greek dinner in a local restaurant.
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