Blogs from Pelopennese, Greece, Europe - page 10

This morning we are in Nafplion, Greece, basically a port town. But it is the gateway to some ancient ruins with a fascinating story: Corinth and Mycenae. Our tour guide is Lalia, a no-nonsense woman with a deep knowledge of the history of the area. We board our coach and head out of town. The landscape is Greek as I remember it: dry, rolling hills, dotted with low plants, trees and shrubs, above which rocky mountain outcrops punctuate the sky. It's remarkable that, if you look carefully, virtually every mountain has some ancient ruins perched precariously on its summit. Our first stop is the Corinth Canal. It cuts across the 6.5 km isthmus that connects the Peloponnesian Peninsula from the Greek mainland. Constructed with the help of Hungarian engineers, it was completed in 1893. But it ... read more

Sadly, I didn't manage to fit in another gelato before leaving Nafplio. We left bright and early to visit Epidaurus, the headquarters of the cult of Asklepios, the god of healing. There was quite a large complex of buildings: besides the one devoted to healing there was a two-storey hotel, a beautiful theatre and several temples so you could worship the god of your choice while you were away from home. We paid a brief visit to the site of ancient Corinth - surprisingly far from the sea, given that it was perhaps the most important port city in ancient Greece. Then a brief flight to Santorini, where we're staying in a very deluxe hotel. There's a strong Italian influence here - as the common name of the island suggests. It also shows up in the ... read more

The allocation of a week to the Pelopennese was really a matter of splitting up the time we have between the mainland and the islands. One week is really not enough to properly check out all of the ancient sites in a part of the world so rich in recorded history. But one week it was to be if we were to give ourselves time to visit a couple of the islands. I suppose it was really me being lazy but we had in mind joining a tour if we could find one that genrally met our needs. There are a lot of options.You can join tours on large buses that transport you to the various sites quickly and efficiently. Most of those will have a guide. The tours seem to be 3, 5, 7 or ... read more

The olive harvest had just finished. They hand pick from December to March from olive groves seemingly covering every inch of Greece. The result was fresh preserved olives and cloudy fresh pressed olive oil that tasted like none we have ever tasted sweet, pungent and delicious. We saw none of this because we arrived in Athens at 2:30 am We left Friday right after work and flew through the night. We had a layover in Warsaw, Poland where Kevin had a run-in with the LOT departure agent who woke up on the wrong side of the bed. She threatened to take Kevin off the flight because of a carry-on issue. We worked it out and were on our way. Met at the airport by the rental car rep. Then off to the Peloponnese… dark, quiet, eerie ... read more

I am just testing this first blog. I've just returned from Greece.... read more