Navplion, Greece

Day 8 - Navplion, Greece

(Geoff) Today, Sue has booked us into a 7 hour tour that will see us explore the ancient city of Corinth and then have a look at the Mycaenae citadel. We are up early, have breakfast and head to the tour departure area. We barely have time to sit down before our tour is called. We head off to discover that the ship can't dock here so we will be going ashore in the lifeboats as tenders. Not a problem as the sea is smooth and the trip ashore is quiet.

We get on our bus and head an hour out of Navplion to Corinth. The ruins that have been uncovered are only a small area because the city has been built over by several other civilisations, including that of today. Our guide tells us that the Phoenicians built here before todays inhabitants and archaeologists interested in that time would like to explore these ruins. However, the Roman archaeologists would like to clear this “new stuff” and see what roman ruins lie underneath. Then the Mycaenae archaeologists would like to clear all this “new stuff” and see what is there that is relevant to their interests. It will be interesting to see who prevails. Our guide thinks they would all like to see a major earthquake to occur so they could sift through the debris and see what has been uncovered!! This was the first place on our travels where blokes also had to line up for the loos. They had one for men and one for women so with 6-8 buses of tourists visiting, it took a while for the queues to clear. At one stage I was 12th in queue. The nearby trees were looking decidedly inviting!!

After Corinth we head to the Mycaenae Citadel - thought to be the fortified city of Agamemnon. Our guide takes us through the story of Troy and it is quite interesting to be in the area where some of this tale takes place. Sue is loving it - she always has been interested in ancient history and here she is seeing it for herself!! We explore the now ruined citadel as our guide explains the importance of what we are seeing.

Then we head to a local hotel that serves us a good Greek dinner starting with Moussaka and finishing with strong Greek coffee. A quick stop after lunch at the obligatory souveneir shop and its back to the ship. Once again we board the lifeboats, only this time the wind has whipped up to 15-20 knots and the bay has quite a swell. The deck-hand has left the little access window slightly ajar and every time the bow surges through the waves, we get ½ a jug full of water coming in. I was right in front so got pretty used to moving my feet to avoid the splash and decided to hold onto the backpack and camera rather that stow them on the floor. We arrive on board and 30 minutes later the ship is underway to our next stop of Katakolon. Tonight we dine with our other OZ friends from South Australia - Chris and Polly - should be another good night and might just have to stay up a bit as we only have an afternoon tour tomorrow!

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