http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Greece , Pelopennese en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:33:34 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:33:34 UTC Hi guysI wanted to at least put my pictures up from my weekend in Napflion. Which was my favorite place we've been thus far. We spent all sorts of time outside away from the yucky city air of Athens. The fresh air was good for Bright and Happy Myste. Even the little rain we got the first night was fine. The mycean ruins were my favorite part of the trip. Most of the palace is in tact and you can http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-344208.html I apologize to everyone for the late entry. Unfortunately right after I returned to school I was bombarded with midterms. In fact this is the eve of my last midterm and I have ceased caring. So instead of studying I decided to finally get my pictures up and post on my blog. At this juncture I am thankful for my travel journal compliments of Quin Mero because otherwise I would have som http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Kalamata/blog-339082.html The ruins at Mycenae represents the stuff Greek tragedies are made of. As one version of the legend has king Agamemnon returning from the Trojan war only to be killed in his bathtub by his wife and her lover. She was angry because he may have had their daughter sacrificed. Hows that for drama. These ruins are older than the acropolis in Athens the original walls were built around 1300bc. If http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-337270.html From Monemvasia ancient Sparta is close by and our group heads out for a day trip. Overlooking Sparti on a steep hill is the archeological site Mystras. This is one of the six places designated by UNESCO that we are able to visit during this trip to Greece. It's design as a Late Byzantine fortified settlement makes it important enough to be on the World Heritage List. As do the frescos. Fo http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Sparta/blog-336545.html Alright Weekend 5 we took a trip to many historical sites in the Peloponnese. Like usual it was all 30 of us plus our directors plus our art history teacher. First stop Corinth. The ancient city of Corinth dates back to 5000 BC or earlier and The Apostle Paul visited Corinth and wrote letters from there Think the bible...The Corinthians There we saw the Temple of Apollo which is a http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-336058.html On to Monemvasia. A most unusual place. The name means single entrance. It is an iceberg of an island jutting almost straight up out of the sea connected to the mainland town of Gefyra by way of a causeway. Founded in the 6th century the town saw most of it's inhabitants leave during the Nazi occupation of WWII and the Greek Civil War which ended in 1949. The lower town of Mone http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Sparta/blog-334682.html Delphi is a startling and beautiful city on the mountain http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-334438.html With a little difficulty in communication I finally manage to purchase ourselves and the camper van tickets for the last ferry of the day. A quick shop for food and wersquore on our way boarding just in time The trip is long and hot sleeping in the van is near impossible due to the heat and noise of the engines so armed with a pillow and sheet I enter the communal areas of the ferry in searc http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-328816.html From Olympia we headed south to stay a couple of nights in the coastal village of Kardamyli. Not much to do in this tiny spot along the Agean Sea. The landscape is rugged. Hard to imagine making a living from the earth in these hills. Pirates and bandits hid here. Down by the water it is more inviting though the beach is made up of stone and pebbles. We took a sunset stroll with our friend http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Kalamata/blog-328710.html Now here is a real gem people. Although everyone was very tired Karl excepted as driver who couldnrsquot afford to be we took a whole day in the Peloponnese enroute to Patras for a ferry to Venice at midnight. We hadnrsquot done any research having just less than a day and the Tom Tom didnrsquot know the roads so we did our best. We chose to head first for Nafplio a coastal town i http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-326636.html Days 5 6 and 7 we are mastering the art of broken english. You like this food Is hot no Today is Day 8 we're still in the Pelopennese just visited Olympia the site of the first Olympics. But let me catch up. As I said before we arrived in Athens Sunday morning and so much for the hot greek sun we've heard so much about since there were thunderstorms and it was cloudy all day. We got http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-319418.html I was inside for the most I've been since in GreeceWe haven't even had a meal inside yetIt's all outsidebut today I had a grumbling tummy from the antibioticswhich also make my mouth taste bad long after I've taken them and a greasy omletteEm was also not feeling goodso we giggled at Greek t.v.we watchedAliasMonkin Englishand a version of cash caba game show where you answer questions in a taxi http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-290435.html Player to player games are big hereit is 1130and young people are packed into this internet cafeplaying gameshalosoccerlord of the rings battle for middle earthand smokingblugfashion notealaddin pants are big on girls herecotton capris that drag down and looklike they have a load in their pantsalso big 80s hairand mullets for the guysand sparkly sandels with lizards with moving partsat ancient http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-290078.html You never know who you might run into when traveling. But to meet up with friends on the little Greek island of Paros would seem to be statistically impossible. They were heading south on the ferry and we were heading north. But our paths managed to cross on the same day in Paros. It was fun to share dinner and travel stories while making plans for future destinations.The best part of Paros http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-289572.html Tiryns was very impressive. The thought of the ancients wrestling those ancient stones into place wow The stones must weigh tonnes and the walls were 711 m thick and many meters tall. It was an amazing complex with casements and rooms and tunnels to underground cisterns. It was the sort of place that you wouldn't be surprised to find a strong guy like Hercules showing up at with his latest http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-288482.html This is my favourite spot on the itinerary. It has great historical sites in the vicinity good shopping lots of great restaurants awesome gelaterias and an inviting atmosphere without the plastic you get with a North American tourist trap. It also has good swimming and an ok beach. I understand there is a better beach around the corner as well. We started our sightseeing by taking a taxi t http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-288478.html The site was inviting from the moment we drove into the park with all the oleanders and other plants and trees. We went to the museum first and it was interesting to see the many statues which were probably votives to thank Asclepius for healing them or their family. There was a plaster cast of a pair of ears attributed to Cutius a Frankish king from 918 AD who was thanking Asclepius for healin http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-288471.html As my guidebook indicated Sparta is not exactly overrun with great archaeological finds. We started the day at the Sanctuary of Amyklaios where there used to be a monument to Amyklaios whom Apollo slew with a misplaced discus blown into him by the North wind. This site was somewhat unique in having a pieshaped portico labelled the 'throne of Apollo' of which nothing is still visible. The site http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Sparta/blog-288464.html We took the overnight ferry from Hania to Piraeus to start our transit to Sparta. We started out badly with a lot of confusion over who was rooming with whom but eventually got it sorted out and were escorted to our 'staterooms' by one of the ferry staff. The rooms had four bunkbeds two on each side a wardrobe a nighttable and a bathroom with a shower very compact very functional. The whol http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Sparta/blog-288450.html Hello Everyone We found a great pensiondomatia in the Old Town of Nafplion with both a great view of the Bourtzi the photos of it are from our balcony and the fortess Palmidi which we climb all 999 steps to the entrance and then it had to be another 999 up to the top and then it seemed 10000 back down in the afternoon heat0 The fortess was built in 1715 and then was conquered 3 years la http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-286632.html Continuing our southerly route along the Peloponnese coast and through the Saronic Islands we have been travelling considerably slower than our first 2 weeks. We have visited reasonable sized towns and found a few lovely bays but not many.Old Epidavros is a safe harbour and nice town. While there we took the bus inland to the ancient archaeological site and the ldquotheatrerdquo which is ver http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-286487.html Well friends it was a sad day leaving Pelekas Beach in Corfu. We camped at Gouvia Bay on the East Coast and then rented a car to tour the island since I have no faith in Mark's scooter skills sorry darling. We drove to Sidari up North but too touristy and the beach wasn't as nice as some we had seen. We lucked upon Pelekas Beach on the West Coast of Corfu and fell in love I've been to Tha http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-286202.html Hey allHere are some more pictures of our time in Italy and a few from Corfu. We left Corfu yesterday and have made our way to Nafplio crossing the area that was apparently hit by an earthquake last week in Greece. Tomorrow we go to visit the ancient site of Mycenae to see some amazing ruins.All I can say is that WE LOVED CORFU Great weather beautiful beaches good food friendly people. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-284678.html This summer we really hit the water running had no problems to delay us. We landed in Greece at 10am on Sunday morning. By the end of the day we had antifouled polished and prepared for launching. We spent the night onboard still on the hard. On Monday morning we did a massive shop with our hire car visiting 3 different supermarkets including LIDL and Champion. At 2 in the afternoon Freedom wa http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-280341.html Just a quick update....We made our way into Greece sucessfully and managed to get to the camp on the very confusing greek trains with the help of a few very nice locals We are now at our camp right by the water we can here the waves on the beach from our tents. There is alot of work to be down around camp washing setting up cutting bamboo marking out the beach preparing grids and soon we wi http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Kyparissia/blog-279560.html Time sure flies.... We are already in Olympia and there is lots to catch up on. We didn't have any internet access in Zakynthos. Lets start from the beginning. The night ferry from Corfu to Patras was a lot nicer than our first night ferry It was much bigger and there were even escalators on it. We had a decent sleep but it was pretty chilly. We had to put on lots of layers and Jess is just get http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-276553.html And so to Athina...Finally out of the airport and on our journey in our rental VW gripping on to seat as Rob drove on left side of car and on the wrong side of the road Motorists here are crazy with no obeying of the road rules or speeds it is free for all so i hang on for dear life as we enter Athena an old tired city expanding for miles beneath the majestic Acropolis on the mount. Roaming http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-271769.html It's argos actually. Napflion is the gold coast of the Peloponnese.Sunday. everything is closed for easter. We pick up our car and we decide on the spur of the moment to go to Delphi before the pel. All along the way there are spits roasting whole lambs. In every village there are industrial quantities of these spits. out on the footpath over an open fire. easter is big here. We get to Delphi. It' http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-271243.html We finished off our three weeks in Italy heading south to Pompeii after Rome. Pompeii was an amazing site. It was stopped dead in its tracks one August morning in 79AD. And now nearly 2000 years later you can still see brightly colored mosaic floors beautiful frescoes painted on the walls water pipes bakery ovens and the best preserved building in townthe brothel complete with little ro http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-262729.html We decided take a road trip to the Peloponnese. This was the area where the forest fires during the summer of 2007 a lot of the mountains were incinerated instead of the lush green olive trees what remains of the trunks. I realiszed that driving in the country side of Greece is pretty scary. The roads wind around the mountains with no barriers stopping cars or people from going over the cliffs http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Xiropigado/blog-260990.html