Blogs from Pelopennese, Greece, Europe - page 27

Need not have worried about the weather, the day dawned bright and sunny (again). Watched the sun light up the castle and the rock above us. Drove up to the entrance gate for an earlyish start - before any tour buses. The site at Mystras is a deserted medieval Byzantine town - although some parts were occupied until quite recently. There are lots of partly ruined and intact houses, churches and monasteries. There is also a large palace complex which is being restored. This part of the Byzantine Empire was lost to the Franks in the middle of the thirteenth century - they built a substantial castle on the top of the rock - and then recovered in the 1260s. It then developed into a centre of learning and administration for the later Empire. It ... read more

Tuesday 4 October: Monasteries and castles Another bright, if crisp, morning. After an excellent breakfast. We decided to retrace our steps to Dmitsana and take the road down through the gorge. Several old monasteries le in the gorge, we went in search of the Philosophou, learning a little more of the greek alphabet at each sign! Found our way to the new monastery and were welcomed by a monk who insisted we partook of greek delight. We then went on the walk to the old monastery, up and down along a rough path to a crumbling ruin set on a cliff ledge. Amazing location. Took the dirt road to Prodromou clinging to the opposite side of the gorge, amazing views (and drops). Four wheel drive is a marvellous thing at times. Dropped down out of ... read more

Sunday 2 October: a long day Awake early, ring Alitalia to check the bag has arrived. It has! After breakfast we drive back to the airport in glorious sunshine with lots of views south across to the mountains of the Peloponnese. So we pick up the bag and begin again. Rearrange today’s itinerary a bit to take account of the lost morning, decide to miss out on Acocorinth and put some kilometres on the car. The multilane motorway runs out at Corinth and we begin to experience “real Greek” driving. The A road has about a lane and half on each side and it is soon apparent that the idea is to pretend it is a dual carriageway. There is clearly a very different highway code in operation - solid white lines do not appear ... read more

We are sitting in an internet cafe in Corinth which has large glass windows overlooking the Gulf of Corinth. Today is a public holiday and almost everything in Greece is closed. We managed to get a bus here - the suburban train network was closed today but we are grateful for the excellent public transport system in Greece. The 90 minute trip from Athens cost only 7 Euros each and if the train had been operating it would have been much cheaper. The metro system in Athens puts NSW trains to shame. It is clean, efficient, reliable and very cheap - costing only 80cents to travel basically anywhere on the metro. The train system, however, has been one of the few things I have been impressed with in Athens. It's messy and dirty and chaotic. Richard ... read more

The title of this blog is a quote from Ilias, the guy at the hotel who has been looking after us for the last four days. I haven't seen much of Greece yet, but already I am starting to believe him. Ilias has taken care of everything. He tells us our itinerary for the day, he sorts our banking, he gives his number to the laundromat so that he can explain what we want, he provides maps, he organises the car, provides important logistical and historical information on the places we are visiting and generally has become our best friend in Greece. Today he offered to take us touring to Sparta with his mates on his day off. We declined because it would have meant leaving the hotel by 8am - but the offer was very ... read more