February 5 - 8, 2022
The move back into a city from the tiny town of Olympia was a change. At least it’s a tourist town with places lively and open during the low season. We had three things on our agenda for this part of Greece, and two were within a 30min drive. I’m not sure we did them in the correct order, since we started with the hill top fortress in Nafplio first. 999 steps up the mountain was what all the locals said we were in for. I think that was just to the first gate into the massive structure. We spent the entire day poking into all the bastions, and there wasn’t even a tavern up there (although you could drive up with your picnic if you wanted). After a day of it we considered a taxi down, but down was the easy part - right?!? Ouch! find me a place to sit, have a beverage, and look back up at what we just did, and I will be happy!
Surprisingly not as sore as expected, we venture up to the ancient site of Epidaurus. This will be my first Greek Theater and something a little different for us. Almost 15,000 seats and I could talk at a normal volume and Stacey could hear me at the top! We tried the coin drop and listen, but maybe that only works with the one ounce gold coin… The site also held a nice museum and a really good example of the extensive water delivery system used within these old towns. Having our fill of ancient ruins (so we thought) we headed back to Nafplio for a coastal walk we wanted to see. A gorgeous 1.5 mi stroll under the cliffs and along the Argolic Gulf with wild winds and crashing waves.
OK, I didn’t forget about the ship ⛵️. Towering above the harbor, was this massive three masted futuristic sailing yacht named the Maltese Falcon. It has in-mast furling (somehow?), and all the social media you could ever want. I heard it was anchored in Sausalito a few years back!
For our last days outing from Nafplio took a different tack. Starting with one of the local wineries, we reserved a tour and tasting thru Airbnb‘s Experiences. The “guide“ tried to send us to Italy for it, but we finally resolved that we were definitely still in Greece… The lovely Flora tried in her best English, and showed us the production into bottles, as well as the immense cellars full of barrels. We then got to taste two whites and two reds, which we liked enough to purchase.😀
All of the historic sites and museums this time of the year close at 3:30pm, which coincides with Greeces “quiet hours”, or what I would call their siesta… From 3/3:30 - 5:30/6pm almost everything closes, maybe a few tavernas or cafes in super tourist spots will stay open, but good luck finding anything 🤞. (and definitely don’t rely on Google maps “open now” restaurants). OK OK I digress too much here, I’ll hopefully do a separate blog page on all-the-Greek-U-need later. We bundled up against the cold wind for our walk thru the ancient site of Mycenae. The Lions Gate, Tholos’s tombs, a long crazy stone tunnel down to a cistern, and the just outside the main site - the Treasury of Atreus. All were new types structures to us and completely different than anything we have seen so far. Ok maybe we are not done with ancient ruins just yet…
Nafplio is an adorable town where I could see myself spending some time hiking and biking and maybe teaching some sailing classes someday.
Next up we head further south to the walled town of Monemvasia 👌
Skouras winery, and a real “two hands“ glass.
more treasures at the Epidaurus museum
The Greek Theater at Epidaurus
PS: I forgot to mention on the beautiful mountain drive from Olympia to Nafplio we meant to stop at a neat church tucked in a cave. What we found was a full on cave tour… Kapsia cave had some very interesting features as well as history! It floods every few years and is also the drainage system for the whole area!?!
