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Published: August 7th 2007
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Valentine's Day in Nafplio
Joel took this photo of us outside a shop window. Limiting myself to 27 photos per blog is not easy so here is another short blog on Greece before we head for Morocco!
Leaving Athens for Corinth Our first port of call on leaving Athens was Ancient Corinth which lies seven kilometers southwest of the modern city of Corinth. Our bus passed over the Corinth Isthmus which is a man-made canal separating the Peloponnese peninsula from mainland Greece. The Greeks used to call this the 'avlaki', meaning the ditch. Amazingly this canal was started by Nero way back in 67AD but work on it never got beyond a big trench and it wasn't until 1891-1893 that the canal became a reality. It is an amazing sight; like a mini Suez Canal!
Corinth was one of ancient Greece's wealthiest and most promiscuous cities but he only ancient Greek monument remaining here is the imposing Temple of Apollo. All the other ruins are from the Roman era. There is a huge limestone hill/mountain behind Corinth and an ancient citadel, called the Acrocorinth, stands right at the top. Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit this site. We did, however, spend a few hours exploring Ancient Corinth and the museum there. There
are many remains of houses, temples, roads and baths.
Nafplio The Lonely Planet guide describes Nafplio as 'one of Greece's prettiest towns'. The old town is very picturesque with its narrow streets and elegant Venetian houses that stretch from the port and part way up the Akronafplia Hill. One thousand steps lead from the town up to the Palamidi Fortress which was built by the Venitians between 1711 and 1714. It is quite a climb (and no we didn't count the steps!) but the views are spectacular! It was an amazingly warm and fine day, with great views over the bay and we had the whole place to ourselves most of the time!
We stayed at a hostel/hotel run by Dimitri Bekas, which LP describes as the only 'decent, budget option' in the old town! It took some finding as we arrived at night and wandered up and down steps following verbal directions from a lady working in a camera shop!! It was certainly worth the effort as we had panoramic views of the port and the fortress from our room. Bekas' rooms are located very close to the Akronafplia Fortress which runs along the top of the
Palamidi Fortress taken from the town
You can see the endless steps that lead up to the fortress on the left! hill. It is the oldest of the three fortresses in Nafplio and parts of the lower walls date back to the Bronze Age.
We enjoyed some delicious Greek cuisine here, worked on our blogs and had a much-needed load of washing done! Walking around the water front one evening was magic as we stopped to enjoy the sunset before Michael and Joel disappeared up the hill in search of prickly pear fruit which were ripe at the time!
Sparta We had a three hour wait in Sparta for our next bus so took the opportunity to explore the town. The Ancient Spartans spent all their time and energy perfecting their fighting skills and prowess so there are very few monuments of any significance in the town. The site of Ancient Sparta is to the north of the town and apparently there are only a few forlorn ruins spread amongst some olive trees. We did, however, go in search of a statue of Leonidas, the fearless King of Sparta who is the hero in the recent block-buster '300'. The boys had fun again making some videos inspired by dialogue from the film.
Monemvasia The next Venetian fortress we
explored was at Monemvasia which is 100km southeast of Sparta. It is a great outcrop of rock that rises dramatically out of the sea having been separated from the mainland in an earthquake in 375AD. Monemvasia means 'single entry' and it can only be reached by a causeway and a road that winds around the base of the rock for about 1 kilometer before it comes to an abrupt end in front of the fortress walls. You enter the old town through a gate which leads into an L-shaped tunnel and then emerge to see the old town which up until this point has been hidden from view! There is no entry for cars so if you are staying here you have to carry your bags from this point. The small old town consists of narrow cobbled streets and a complex network of stone houses that are clustered around the seaward side of the island and spread up the side of the massive hill. The fortress was built by the Venetians in the 16th century and the climb to the top is an exhilarating experience! An 18th century Turkish traveller said 'You can find everything you want in this city
except water.' The views over the old town are breath-taking and the sight of the Byzantine Church of Agia Sophia, perched precariously on the cliff, is well worth the effort!
It was really windy the day we visited as you can see from what happened to my umbrella! We all had such a good laugh over that! We found a little cafe in the town and sheltered out of the wind for a while drinking coffee and playing draughts! I particularly enjoyed looking through the shops and bought a pair of earrings that had been made by a famous Greek artisan. Isn't it great to have something to remind you in a tangible way of a fantastic day! We stayed in the small mainland town of Gefyra, which was much more affordable for accomodation and was only a short walk across the causeway. Michael and I had been on the road for about 7 weeks by now and were in need of a haircut. We found a hairdresser in Gefyra and with the aid of gestures and another customer who spoke English we tried to explain how we would like our hair cut. It was the fastest and cheapest
Lechaion Road, Ancient Corinth
You can see Acrocorinth in the background, perched on top of a massive limestone outcrop. cut I had had but our barber did a good job!
Farewell We all really enjoyed our last few days together in Greece, getting out into the countryside and hiking up hills to explore fortresses! It was with a sense of sadness that we made our way to Athens airport as we were heading off in different directions. Colin left first for Rome, where he was going to spent a few days before heading home to Perth. Half an hour later Joel set off for Vienna to pack up and to bid his friends 'Auf Wiedersehen'. Michael and I had a two to three hour wait before we flew via Gatwick and Luton, on our way to Morocco for two weeks.
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Jenny
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More history from my teacher
Thanks for the history lesson again, I think I have learnt more on your travels than any history lesson years ago!! If I remember that far back.