We had a long break from school and work over Christmas, so we went to Greece. It's not far from here. The airfare is reasonable, and it only took about 5 hours flight time to get there. The flight there was uneventful. We arrived in Athens around 6 in the evening, got a cab to our hotel. Our cab driver was friendly and taught us some greetings in Greek. After we checked in and got settled, we went to find a place for dinner.
We didn't know where to go for dinner, so we wandered around and accidentally found a quiet little diner like place. There was no one there but the owner because it was a little late for dinner. He brought out what what was made, in typical diner fashion. However, the food was completely different than any U.S. diner. We had a huge Greek salad with fresh tomatoes, feta, cucumbers, and olives (Greek salads don't have lettuce!). I had this amazing chickpea dish. It was once of the best things I've ever eaten. It was almost like a stew; the chickpeas had been simmered in a rich broth. Woody had meat of some kind (sorry, it's all kind of the same to me). He loved it and said it was wonderful. And I had a Greek beer called Mythos that was very good. I also shared Woody's large bottle of Ouzo We walked back to our hotel full and warm, so happy to be in Greece.
Day 2
We woke up and headed to Acropolis, just a short walk from our hotel. One of the first things that struck me about Greece is all of the orange trees growing in the streets. Every ten feet or so was an orange tree heavily decorated with perfectly ripe oranges. It struck me that Athens is a giving place that has food readily available for anyone who's hungry with ripe food hanging all around the city. Of course, things are changing in Greece. We went during an intense political time. There, apparently, are many unemployed people, and the taxi drivers said that the government is taxing the unemployed. So although the oranges made Athens look lush and prosperous, I don't think the Greek people feel that way about their country right now.
We got to Acropolis just before it opened. It was a beautiful, chilly morning, and we were all in good spirits. We got some good pictures of Acropolis. We didn't get a tour guide since we didn't know how long we'd be able to stand in one place and listen with Griffin, so I'll admit that I don't know what everything is. They were doing construction on some of the buildings, but we were able to get close.
The view of Athens from up there was beautiful:
This is just one of the many chilled out dogs hanging out around Acropolis and Greece in general. Coming from a country where dogs are kind of forbidden, it was really nice to see happy pups around.
There was graffiti everywhere all over Greece, I mean everywhere. If it has been standing still for more than a month, it has graffiti on it. Some of it was artful, but some of it took the beauty away from the place. There were lots of "Fuck the police" and anarchy signs. Below is an anarchy tag at Acropolis. .
There was marble everywhere. In some areas we weren't allowed to touch it, but there was some on the ground, and Griffin wanted to touch it, so this was us touching the marble on the ground:
The Greek flag:
Since Griffin loves construction, I had to get pictures of the construction they were doing on the Parthenon:
Our next stop was a yarn store I had found pictures of online. We had an address and a map, but it was a bit too far to walk, so we started looking for a cab. We were approached by a taxi driver walking to his cab, telling us he could take us there. As soon as we got in, the scam started. He claimed he didn't know where the street was and even called someone on his phone . Then while he drove around "lost" in circles, he offered to take us around Athens for sightseeing and shopping. To make a long story short, we had to finally demand that he stop and let us out so we could walk to the store. There was so much traffic, and he was so indigent, insulting, and obviously scamming us, that we decided we'd be better off walking to the yarn store.
Fortunately we were on the right street when we got out. I found the store easily. It was small but stocked floor-to-ceiling with yarns. There was music playing and the smell of baked goods in the homey shop. The shop keeper was grey-haired with a jolly belly typical of Greek men his age we saw. He was waering a beautiful zippered, cabled sweater he undboutedly knitted himself. People were perusing, and the shop keeper was flitting from customer to customer, speaking in Greek. There was a shop keeper, too, a young man surprisinging knowledgable about the yarns, knitting gauge, etc
Then what I feared happened. The shopkeeper came up to me and said something in Greek. At this point in our trip I had started feeling ashamed fo rnot knowing any Greek. I said, "I'm sorry." He said, "Don't be sorry! Be happy! What I said was for you to make yourself at home and let me know if I can help with anything." He instantly put me at ease.
He showed me some yarn that I was looking for and gave me a lecture after I foolishly asked for acrylic. I hate acrylic yarn! Why did I ask him for acrylic! I then told him that I'm a "lazy knitter" and I prefer big yarn so that my projects will knit up quickly. He said, "Would you rather ride a bicycle fast through the city or slowly through the city." Sigh. I thanked him for his advice and bought some tiny cotton yarn that will take a lot of patience in my next project. :)
He tried to give Griffin a hand-knitted teddy bear, but Griffin was feeling shy, so he turned it down. Then the shopkeeper offered him any button of his choice. Griffin found an airplane button, and the man gave him two. Then the shopkeeper gave me about 60 euros off of my purchase! This is an example of how generous we found the Greeks to be.
It was time for us to go to Nafplio. We had originally wanted to rent a car to drive there, but we found out when we got here that we had the wrong kind of license, so we took buses and taxis instead. The bus ride to Nafplio was inexpensive and only took about 2 hours. We were the only foreigners on it. Nafplio is a popular destination for Athenians to go on the weekends, apparently. It was a beautiful ride through the mountains and along the Sarconic Gulf.
When our bus finally arrived in Nafplio it was dark. Then we had to take a taxi to our hotel. It was then that we found out our hotel wasn't actually in Nafplio, it was in a little town called Myloi. We had to have the taxi driver call the innkeeper because we were pronouncing the city wrong. so he called her and got directions sorted.
When we pulled up to the bed & breakfast, Woody and I got a little worried. It looked like an abandoned apartment complex, and there were vacant buildings around. But the innkeeper came out and assured we were in the right place. We left the taxi, and she showed us to our room. It was nice. A little different than I expected, but cozy in a way that felt like camping. The place got great reviews on trip advisor, but I think it's just because the innkeeper is a nice person and no one wants to hurt her business.
We had a beautiful view of the mountains and see from our room, but it was hard to keep warm, and the bathroom was really rugged.
Days 3 & 4 (these days run together in my memory)
The innkeeper insisted that we rent a car, and the next day we figured out what she meant. Myloi is a 15 minute drive from anything, and the town of Myloi doesn't offer much. It was beautiful, but we felt a little stranded there. We actually tried to move out of the hotel and find a place in Nafplio, but she talked us into staying and found a place for us to rent a car. Once we rented a car it was better. We were able to drive into Napflio every day.
Nafplio was the first capital of Greece, before Athens because it was the first place that was free. It is a stunningly beautiful city, nestled in the mountains and skirting the gulf. Then you look across the gulf and see more mountains. A castle sits on top of the highest mountain and overlooks the sea. We had a magical time climbing up the mountain and exploring the castle.
The Nafplio museum. It's amazing how much these people were doing 1500 BC. The art and jewelry were beautiful. Below are statues of women breastfeeding with the description on the plaque:
Griffin out front of the museum. There were so many children playing ball in the courtyard while their families ate in the cafes.
This dog barked at us while we were exploring the castle. People lived in the hillside among the castle remains. This dog must've lived in someone's yard.
These are pictures on our way up the hillside toward the castle. The second one below is an old well. I couldn't get the shot without my shadow.
Below me I saw an empty, quaint little patio cafe nestled in the hillside. There was a black cat sleeping on one of the tables:
Do you see that stain on left-side wall? That is a pomegranate stain. It's a good illustration just how much fruit grows here. Pomegranates, oranges, lemons, olives, just growing amazingly everywhere!
Starting to enter the castle:
On our way up toward the castle, a man on a moped stopped to talk to us. He asked me for a kiss on the cheek, then he motored away. :)
We found a pretty little area near the top:
I took a little side hike:
This view is from down at the base of the hill, looking across the gulf:
Castle in the middle of the water:
Saturday morning we found a lovely farmer's market:
Just outside Nafplio we found this old train. Griffin called it the Poop Train because the engine cab has been used as a toilet.
That evening we ate at a seafood restaurant in Myloi. It was like the music stopped when we walked in. The place was full of Greek men, only men. I was the only woman in there. Later our innkeeper told us that all of the women were home making cookies for the holidays. Still, it made us feel pretty uncomfortable. The men kept looking at us and wouldn't smile back. This is another reason I wish we had stayed in Nafplio rather than Myloi. That wasn't the first time that kind of thing happened to us in Myloi.
Woody and Griffin outside the restaurant in Myloi:
New Years' Eve:
We had a lovely New Years' Eve. We ate at a little cafe in Nafplio where we had amazing calamari and delicious (and cheap!) barrel wine:
Woody built a fire in our room, Griffin went to bed around 7, and Woody and I drank and stayed up and talked until midnight. I found this amazing wine (like a dessert wine). It was crazy cheap in the Spinneys there. I found it by accident, and it was delicious!
My New Years Eve wine:
Day 5 (New Years' Day):
On New Year's Day everything was closed, so we slept in and then drove through the Peloponnese countryside to Tripoli. It was a very windy drive through the mountains, but we saw some beautiful scenery:
We found this lonely little church along the mountainside:
Later that day we explored an old train yard in Myloi. All of these trains had just been abandoned. We don't know why, but Griffin loved looking at them.
Day 6:
Our last day we got up early to check out, return the car, and catch our bus into Athens. It was just a long day of traveling. We had the two hour bus ride to Athens, then an hour bus ride to the airport. Here are some pics of our travel day:
Griffin in the bus from Nafplio to Athens. He had to sit on our laps:
