Best of Greece and 7 Day Aegean Cruise
Day Three – 13 Sept 2009
Weather – Sunny, hot and 29 in the morning. Cloudy and 25 in the afternoon.
I woke and looked at the clock and saw 5:57 and thought “ah, I can sleep another hour.”
Oh wait!
Then the alarm went off.
Luggage was out for 6:30 and I was down for breakfast shortly after. We boarded the bus and took the seats we would use for rotation which would be moving clockwise by four seats. The traffic out of Athens was quite light and we arrived at the Corinth Canal just after nine. The bus stopped at a store just fifty metres from the bridge over the canal.
The canal was amazing. It was just two shear walls cut down to a narrow water passage below. The walkway was quite narrow and can be crowded. I took some pictures then walked to the far side, crossed the street and walked back on the other side of the next bridge which had no pedestrian traffic on it at all – a better place to get some pictures.
We piled back into the bus for the short drive to Ancient Corinth. The site was under a towering hill with a large fort on top. The scenery was beautiful.
The ruins of Ancient Corinth were larger than I expected and reminded me a little of Pompeii except that they were not nearly as complete.
It was getting hot as we got there, so Joanna gave her talks under the shade of several strategically placed trees. Joanna spoke about the ruins for about twenty minutes then gave us a half hour to wander among the ruins and take pictures. Beware the rock police with their whistles. I think they hide and pop out the moment a shoe touches the wrong rock.
We departed Ancient Corinth and drove for about an hour to Epidarus, the ancient Roman theatre with amazing acoustics. We stopped for lunch a few minutes from the site at Antonios.
In groups of ten, we were brought into the back where the chef showed us what was on the menu which included fish (whole or fillet), chicken, spaghetti and other items.
It helped with the ordering and the meal was pretty good. (Lunches were not included and this one cost about 8 Euro on average).
We left Antonios for the short drive to Epidarus. There was a set of easy to climb stairs to the theatre and the steps were surrounded by trees.
Clouds had begun to move in so we could explore the site in relative comfort.
Joanna had us all take a spot anywhere on the steep slope of the theatre. I walked about half way up before my heart protested then sat and listened. She called for silence then clapped her hands – which I could hear perfectly. Then she rumpled up some paper and dropped coins – all heard with perfect clarity. Then we had a brave volunteer sing a couple of songs for us. Amazing!!!
I walked to the top and then along the top taking pictures before I descended to the base where others told me to stand on the centre stone and clap my hands. The echo was unbelievable. Every word produced a fantastic echo.
As we walked away, a guy visiting the site with some friends stood on the stone and started to sing – until a whistle rang out. Guess there were rock police and singing police.
Zeus was displeased.
We boarded the bus for the half hour drive to Nafplion . The area was full of high rolling hills covered with shrubs and olive trees. Joanna told us that this area of Greece is the hottest and gets very very little rain.
Then she turned around to face forward just as the driver turned on the windshield wipers.
By the time we got to the town, the rain had let up. The bus couldn’t drop us off at the right end of the port, so we walked about ten minutes along the harbour road to the main square where Joanna let us loose on the locals.
We got ice cream and walked among the Plaka-like streets. Compared the Athens, Nafplion was very “tidy.” It had a much “newer” feel to it. The locals were very pleasant people. I picked up a couple of dolphin bracelets for my nieces and a light cotton pullover shirt that was so much better for the hot weather than what I had packed.
The hotel was located about ten minutes outside of the town.
The Hotel Amalia was very nice.
The marble floors and stairs were stunning. The room was not unlike the Divani Palace Acropolis. There were three (hard) beds in my room, TV, safe, shampoo and stuff, bar fridge, hair dryer and a lot of towels (including face clothes).
There was no iron or kettle and the swimming pool was unheated. The bathroom was quite large with a full bath. Internet was a little pricey with two computers available as well as a wireless zone in the lobby. It was 2 Euro for fifteen minutes, 4 Euro for thirty minutes and 8 Euro for an hour. The fifteen minute option was adequate.
I took a shower and went down for dinner at 7:30. The included dinner was a buffet, although I couldn’t identify half the food (not everything was labeled). What I did have wasn’t too bad and deserts were light mousse squares, jello and ice cream (at least we think it was ice cream). People had to pay for their drinks and a glass of wine ran about 3.60 Euro.
Tomorrow we have a later wake up call and we’re all looking forward to catching up on our sleep before continuing onto Olympia.
Go to Day Four
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