The Tour of Greece, part 1

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Monday, and another early start. I was to be picked up 40 minutes later than Sunday, but as I had to pack everything, I was awake at the same time. This time, however, I had the breakfast room to myself and the tour company picked me up right on time. We continued on picking people up from various hotels, and I was a little worried as some of them had no luggage at all. What are they going to do for clothes for 4 days, I wondered.

The mystery was solved when the bus pulled up and some of us were told to change buses. That was a little annoying as I had a prime seat on the first bus. What was more annoying though was that the new bus then headed off…. By going back past my hotel! I could have slept in for an hour!

We headed south along the Isthmus of Corinth and our first stop was at the Corinth canal. It was made at the end of the 19th century by the same fellow who made the Suez canal and first attempted the Panama canal (with help, I presume). It was very impressive, and further down from where we stopped is an interesting bridge that instead of rising for passing ships, apparently sinks instead!

Next stop was Epidavros, where there is a very well preserved theatre. The most impressive thing about it is not that it is so well preserved (although that is impressive!) but the acoustics of the place are amazing. Apparently the slightest sound in the centre can be heard from every seat in the theatre. While we were there, one lady graced everyone with a couple of songs and was rewarded by some hearty applause by all the other visitors. I was up the very top at the time, and I can vouch that the sound quality was excellent.

The museum there is not particularly big or impressive, so we did not stay long. Next stop was Nafplio, a beautiful seaside town with a medieval castle in good condition and a fort out in the harbour that was apparently used by the Turks as a prison. Unfortunately, we stopped for 5 minutes on the foreshore so that we could take some long distance photos and then kept going.

While it was now lunchtime, we could not stop yet. Our next destination, Mycenae closed at 3pm (apparently the 3pm thing is because they don’t adjust the closing time for daylight saving time!) so we had to visit that before we could eat.

After seeing Michael Wood’s documentary “In Search of the Trojan War”, I was very keen to see Mycenae. This was the palace of Agamemnon, although he was one of the final Mycenaean kings and the palace and fortifications were older than him. This was where the Mask of Agamemnon was found. The most impressive part of the fortifications nowadays is the Lion Gate, although the creatures are missing their heads and there doesn’t seem to be much room for lion heads, so apparently there is a school of thought now that thinks they were actually gryphons - body of a lion, but with the head of an eagle.

After walking around the ruins, we then headed onto the tomb of Agamemnon. It seems that by the time of Agamemnon, the Mycenaeans were burying their kings in large bee-hive like tombs. The one named as Agamemnon’s was found empty, but that is not surprising as it was easily accessible. Apparently shepherds used to use the bee-hive tombs as barns!

It was now time for lunch, so we were taken to a tavern in town. While lunches are not included in the tour, it seems we don’t get any choice as to where we actually eat. I expect there’s some deal between the tour companies and the places we go. As I expected, most of the other people on the tour are couples and/or small groups, so up until then I had not really talked to any of them (quite a few are Chileans who do not speak English, most of the rest are Americans. I rest my case). However, at lunch I was joined by the only other person by themselves, a nice girl from Malaysia. I’m glad she is on the tour as it means I have somebody to talk to during meal time.

Next stop was a place that sells authentic pottery. It sounded like we were going to be getting a demonstration of how they make the vases. Turned out to be an explanation by the staff as to why the vases differ vastly in price (i.e. they were justifying their prices to us). Again, it seemed to be a deal between the tour company and the shop (really just a souvenir place that handmade the potter as well).

The plan then was a long drive to Olympia where we were staying the night. The hotel there, in a word, was crap. Nobody seemed particularly impressed. Dinner was dished out and I finished the night with a nightcap with my new friend before heading to bed. Oh, we were joined at dinner by two American ladies (sisters) who were nice enough, but, well, you know - they were American after all.

It was up at 7 (you get a wake up call whether you want one or not!) for a pathetic attempt at breakfast before the bus picked us up to take us to the ruins of Olympia. Unfortunately there was apparently a cruise ship nearby, so the place was absolutely packed. We were given a guided tour of some of the site by our tour guide, Kassandra, and then given about half an hour to run around and take pictures.

We did have the option then of taking more time to look around the ruins, or head over to the museum for a guided tour. I would have loved to have spent more time looking around the ruins, but there were some things I wanted to see inside the museum. Note to self: that’s the downside of tours. The museum was good, but even then we didn’t really have much of a chance to see everything.

We then headed off for lunch at a much more reasonable hour and I had the most delicious meatballs. As we were boarding the bus after lunch, one of the couples asked me if I was from the great south land - turns out my Australian cricket hat gave it away. They were form Peakhurst. After we had established that, they haven’t seemed to be at all interested in chatting with me again which is probably for the best as they’re an older couple and I’m sure we’d not have a lot to talk about.

From there we were driving to Delphi to stay the night. The journey took us to the town of Patra where we stopped to see some church. I guess it was impressive enough, but as it was only 40 years old I had little interest. I went to the café and had some chocolate ice cream instead.

We left there and headed to the new bridge that crosses the Gulf of Corinth. First we stopped for a few minutes near a medieval fort that controlled the Gulf so we could take pictures of the huge bridge. It’s like 4 Anzac bridges in one, apparently the longest suspension bridge over sea in the world. It’s tolled, of course, and apparently the cost for a bus was 36 euros! The NSW government has much to learn!

Next stop was the hotel near Delphi - a much nicer place. The room is positively cosy, although as I am on the top floor and the shower/bath is under the sloping roof I’m not sure how I will be able to shower in the morning. I won’t be able to stand upright, and there is no holder for the shower head….. Perhaps I will have to have a bath. Very minor thing though, considering the beautiful room and exquisite view.

First thing tomorrow is the ruins of Delphi, but I suspect I will be back in Athens (Thursday) before I am able to post these as internet access in these regional hotels seems to be restricted to using their computers. I figure you can all wait.

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Photos

Straights of Salamis
Where the Athenian fleet defeated the Persians. Probably not the exact location, but it's the right straights!

The back door
Or Northern postern