Need shoes?

Friday 7th July 

A free day in Athens today to recover from a full on 4 days touring on the bus. No need to drag ourselves out of bed and on to the bus.

Our hotel seems to cater to a lot of younger tour groups; TopDeck is one of them. Last night a new large group of 20+ yr olds arrived, and this morning there was another group at breakfast. We headed out late morning with the washing in tow with the plan to get the washing done, have lunch early then back to the hotel for a nap. The laundry was not self serve so we were able to leave it while we chilled over a freddo espresso nearby, then had lunch.

Not quite dog of the day, but almost. 

I really liked these coffee cups.

I'm not sure how to label the area we are staying in. Move 2 streets back from the main street the hotel is on, and I'd maybe label it like old Fitzroy or Collingwood (think back streets). Run down, crowded, not nice to look at, working class. Almost like tenement 4 or 5 storey apartment blocks. The streets are narrow, could do with repair, footpaths with broken paving - but the broken footpath paving is also in the city blocks we have walked.

Tonight we headed in to the city to first of all get sunnies for Rob. After visiting 5 shops (in a 100m stretch) we finally got a pair of clip ons. One place tried to talk us into a pair of sunnies for 190 euro - but wait, you get another free pair with them. I don't think so! In this same 100m stretch plus a bit there were at least a dozen shoe shops. A shoe shoppers paradise. We have labelled this the street of bored husbands. 

We went back to Ella's for dinner and again it was lovely. Still lots of people about in the streets as we finished dinner and headed back to the hotel. This is probably quite normal all the time in busy cities and with the heat here it is much more pleasant to be out and about in the evening. We still noted a lot of american accents to be heard.

Oven baked lamb - we think this is maybe the neck.
Must look at this as a dinner option at home.

Chicken for me.

Tomorrow we head for the boat - a new experience for us. 

Ancient greece - myths or reality?

Wednesday 5th July 

This morning we visited the museum at Delphi. It was a great museum with a lot of information - too much to remember. Our guide had all the stories about all the gods and kings - too much to take in. There were so many different tour groups at the museum (and the site), from small groups of 4 or 5 people with a tour guide, to coach loads. This is one aspect of our tour that we have not enjoyed - the crowds, combined with the heat, makes for some uncomfortable times. After the museum it was a visit to the archaeological site. This involved a lot of steps and uphill walking. Amazing to see what they have unearthed and that they can work out the various structures on the site. Archaeology really is pretty fascinating!

Lunch today was a beautiful grilled fish - sea bream from the fish farms nearby. Lovely lunch - but Rob left his prescription sunnies at the restaurant, never to be seen again.

A visit to Thermopyles, the site of a battle between the Persians and Greeks in 480 BC. Apparently about 7000 Greeks, well outnumbered by maybe 300,000 Persians (though some stories say more than a million). There were many battles at Thermopyles including one in 1941 when the Germans invaded Greece and the pass was held by the Anzacs long enough to allow the British forces to evacuate to Crete.

A long drive then to our overnight stop at Meteora, ready to visit the monasteries in the morning.

Thursday 6th July 

Lucky I packed a dress - dress code for the monastery ix long pants for the men and skirts yo at least the knees, and shoulders covered, for the women.

First we visited a place where they make the religious icons, for an explanation of the process.

 

The landscape here is just stunning. These huge rock pillars, just in the small area surrounding this town. There have been monasteries in some shape or form on some of these pillars since the 12th century. You can hike in the area and climb the zillions of steps to many of the monasteries, or take the tour like us and visit one monastery with no steps and another with only 150 steps (glad it wasn't the one with 300 steps). One monastery I think the only way to get to it is via the cable car across from one rock pillar to the monastery on the next. 

No photos allowed inside the monasteries but the icons, frescoes, gold work really are something to be seen. 

One good thing about this visit - it was lovely and cool. First time I've felt cool since we've been in Greece. Mind you, we had to hang on to our hats and our skirts as it was pretty breezy up there. 

Finally a long drive back to Athens,  thankfully freeway most of the way, and not hilly and winding. Getting back into Athens was very slow - peak hour, and the traffic just wasn't moving on the main highway in to town. Now we are back at the hotel and have a free day tomorrow to do the washing and try to get some sort of sunnies for Rob, before boarding our cruise on Saturday. 

How old is old?

Sunday 2nd July

Just a couple more photos to add on changing of the guard. We went back at 8pm to watch. We then had a lovely dinner in the city. We couldn't believe just how many people were out and about in the streets at 10pm. There were lots of young people - 15-20 yr olds.

We took Odette out for dinner. 

Every time we take her out she is like a movie star and everyone wants to be photographed with her.

And we found a couple of friends for her - this restaurant was OTT decorated with flowers, fancy plates on walls, lots of tizzy stuff.

Monday 3rd July

A long day of sightseeing. We headed off at 8am travelling to Olympia by the end of the day. We travelled up the coast with the Aegean sea on our left. First stop was the Corinth canal which joins the Ionian Sea with the Aegean Sea. This is pretty spectacular - 80m down to the water from the bridge. One boat wide - we watched one boat being towed (tugged) through followed by a yacht in its wake.

Just entering the canal from the Ionian Sea. Totally confused by the seas and the shape of Greece, but I pulled up a map this afternoon and got it sorted.

These ponds were sea bream farms. 

Visited the Theatre of Epidaurus amphitheater, built in 340BC, which is famous for its acoustics. It is still used today for concerts and performances. 

I was hoping someone would sing a few bars to appreciate the acoustics.

Front row seats. 

The countryside - very dry and barren and colourless as we left Athens,  millions, billions, trillions of olive trees. Oleander trees everywhere for just a tiny bit of colour. Very Australian colour with eucalyptus, some conifers, a lot of pencil cypress, bamboo as we got further north, and orange groves.

The towns we passed through remind us a lot of India, from the streetscape as we drive through to the shapes and sizes of the houses. Also the small shops and stalls along the roadside. We stopped in the town of Nafplion and dropped off a few passengers - it would have been lovely to have lunch there at one of the restaurants by the sea, but no, we had a couple of other places to see first.

One of two castles in Nafplion - this one on an island....

...and this one on a hill top.

Streets of Nafplion. 

Church at Nafplion. 

Firstly, the village of Mikenes where there is an acropolis (acropolis is a village on a hill and there are many through Greece, not just the one in Athens) and beehive tomb.

The Acropolis at Mikenes.

These shelties went for a visit too.

Beehive tomb at Mikenes.

A late lunch finally at Mycenae around 3pm, a visit to a pottery and jewellery workshop, then 2 1/2 drive to our next stop overnight near Olympia.

We drove through a rain band on the way and all I could think off was slippery wet marble the next day. Not an issue - rain stopped, sun out, dry in 5 minutes.

Our hotel in Olympia was quite nice but driving in we were sure we were way out in the sticks somewhere. We had buffet meals for lunch and dinner and both were quite good. It’s a good way to try a variety of Greek food.

Tuesday 4th July

Happy American Independence Day. We have a few Americans on our tour but I haven’t heard any of them mention it. Otherwise the tour group is made up of French, Canadians, and one kiwi has joined us today. A mix of age groups - there were a few kids with us yesterday but they were with the group that left us at Nafplion.

A late start today - we didn’t need to be on the bus till 9. A large group of 12-14 yr olds were in the hotel for a basketball camp - 11pm and words needed to be said ‘hey, people are trying to sleep here’. Not sure they understood English, but the tone said it all.

First visit was to the archaeological site of Olympia. I was pleased to see that there was no hill to climb to visit this; and it was already so hot. This site dates to 4th millennium b c. They are still excavating in some areas. We got the history of the ancient olympics - amongst other details, only men competed, and nude. The olympics started with only one event, the 200m race, and every 4 years they'd add another, then another, etc. No one put their hands up to give a demo of the 200m race. There is just an incredible amount of columns, rocks, marble, structures from Roman times, the original arena. To think that every rock was once part of something.

Still finding treasures. The excavation here is being done by a German group, so signs are in Greek, English and German.

Lots of columns and structures, huge rocks, plinths. Our guide told the story of those caught cheating at the Olympics had their statue on a plinth, and their name and family name also. Named and shamed! Only 16 in 300 years.

Entry to the arena of the ancient olympics.

Standing on the 200m race track.

Next, the archeological museum. I was blown away by the first display of tiny little votive offerings, some only a couple of inches. There was so much to see in the museum from these tiny pieces to huge sculptures. Our guide is very passionate about Greek history and spent a lot of time telling stories of the various gods and famous people of Ancient Greece. I’ll remember almost none of it by the time we hit the next site.

These are so small, and so perfect. To think of the 'tools' and 'processes' to get them so smooth and perfect. 

School kids on a school art group outing.

Sculpture of fight between centaur and lapinths(?). 

Sculpture of Peristecles. I can't remember who/what he was but it was a beautiful sculpture. Only found in 1877 from memory. 

Early lunch today and again it was a buffet with an assortment of Greek dishes. It was lovely though their dessert choices are a little boring.

Wine and olive oil tasting. I don’t really like olive oil as a condiment - I cook with it but that’s it. They had some lovely balsamic creams - we bought a strawberry one, which will be nice on a salad or ice cream. We also bought a bottle of a sweet red that I liked - i think that will be gone before we board our cruise. There were a few committed wine tasters in the group who continued the tasting until the opened bottles were empty.

Wine and olive oil tasting.

We then had a long 4 hour drive to Delphi, stopping halfway along at the city of Patra to look at the suspension bridge, completed in 2004, and the second longest in the world after the Millau viaduct in France, which we saw on a previous trip to France.

Suspension bridge at Patra.

Delphi is perched high on a hillside, and our hotel is on the downside and our balcony looks down on to the city of Itea on the Corinthian sea. This town reminds us of one of the towns we stayed at in Nepal.

Olympic hotel, Delphi.

Old puppy.

Didn't order the lamp shops. 😀

Looking down to the town of Itea and the Corinthian Sea.

Very comfortable.

And up to the mountains behind Delphi.