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Photoalbum Peloponnesus

 

Monday May 17, 2010: Departure to Athens

We don't get up too late, at 08:00 and perform some household tasks. Everything was already prepared, so Eef does not have a lot of work to pack. Timo had cleaned the house and the garden during the weekend, so that was OK too. We perform the last tasks: dustbins, toilets and similar things, everything is ready on time, when Maurits picks us up. There is a bit of tension in the air when we hear on the radio the volcano on Iceland is still creating an ash plume and some airports are closed: Ostend, Amsterdam and all airports in the United Kingdom. But we leave at 11:00 to Zaventem with taxi Bellon and arrive without a problem, no traffic. The check-in is also smooth, so we'll probably be able to leave. The first time in our travel-career we wait at the wrong customs check: we need to go to gate A55 and were at the ent

Photoalbum Dives Peloponnesus

rance for B-gates, not good, to much chatting. Also the check of the hand luggage is done fast; there are few people at the airport and neither of us needs to be searched: nice.

We walk to gate A55 and immediately notice the gate has changed to A53, so we drink a beer at the airport bar: half a liter of Leffe blonde. We have a small croquet chicken and then walk towards the gate for the boarding. They've changed the gate another time to A58 and there we notice we have a delay of 30 minutes. That is not very good, because we need to drive 100 kilometers once we're in Athens. We try to avoid any annoyance and enjoy the moment. Eventually we can board at about 14:00, although we've should have left at 13:20. So in total a bit over one hour delay we can fly. We have a drink on the airplane (an un-tasty Amstel) actually receive something to eat: not really good either, but we know that during a flight. We sleep; Eef lies down on the last pair of seats and then Timo also has more space: three seats: great. After a flight of three hours we arrive two hours later than originally planned in Athens. At booking time the flight was scheduled at 12:20, then changed to 13:20 and today we have a delay of 1 hour. We have a smooth landing, immediately can collect our luggage and walk toward the desk of Hertz, because there we rented a car for the next ten days: the smallest they had available for this period.

The smallest they had turns out to be a green Chevrolet Matiz; we collect it and after 45 minutes we drive to the direction of Corinth. Timo had the intention of finding a hotel there, close to the Canal. After a drive of an hour and two toll-stops we arrive at the CorinthCanal. There is no hotel here, only some restaurants, but that's not what we're looking for. We decide to drive on to Loutraki and hope to find a cheap hotel there. We see assign to Hotel Bakos, park the car and look for the hotel. We're able to locate it pretty soon and pay only 50 Euro for a room with breakfast. We immediately decide to stay here. Rather fast we also catch the Greek again and explain and ask everything in Greek. The hotel owner suggests a tavern close by: first turn left, then first one right and there we should see it: Estiatorio Filippas. We sit down, order a liter of chima, get a bottle of water and eat choriatiki, tzatziki, gavros and haddock. We have fun and the food is really great.

At about 22:00 we return to our hotel room, buy a few Mythos and drink them on our noisy balcony. The street where we sleep is pretty busy with many cars and motorcycles, even on a Monday-evening. Half an hour we stay here, write the reports and then go to sleep. A traveling day wears down a person, so we sleep well. Note to ourselves: the car had a mileage of 12133 kilometers when we picked it up.

 

Tuesday May 18, 2010: Direction Mystras and trip to Gytheio

Timo had planned to get up at about eight and that works out fine. At 07:30 he's already enjoying the rising sun at the balcony, Eef sleeps a bit longer till eight. We have breakfast included (50 Euro for a diklino), so the first action of the day is moving to the basement floor to eat and drink. Coffee with a juice, bread and cornflakes. We have unpacking nothing and can leave immediately after the breakfast to Mystras. We have a stop at the CorinthCanal for a picture. The wind is very hard here, almost to the level of storm. There are clouds, but the temperature is OK. After the canal we drive on the highway and need to pay toll twice, same as yesterday. The toll-amount is never big, a few Euro and we move nice and steady at 110 kilometers an hour. At a speed of 120 the Matiz already has a rotational speed of 4500, so we always ensure it is below 4000 rotations, otherwise we might get into trouble.

We need about an our to reach Tripoli and there take the direction of Sparta and from there we have a last 6 kilometers to go. The drive is good with the necessary road works. We sometimes think road are frequently blocked by works, but it is just the same here. A couple of tunnels later we are in Sparta. This is really a big part of European history, but the contemporary Sparta is a very modern city with the Greek atmosphere; that's how it is supposed to be. From here the distance to Mystras is small and we can follow the indications easily. The road leads us to the center with a pretty square and after a short detour we park the car and look for a pension for the next three nights. The possibilities to sleep are limited; one room immediately at the square with a big tree and a bit further also "rooms to let". There an old woman addresses us and asks if we need domatio and yes for only 35 Euro we'll stay at Christina's the next three days.

We check out the room quickly: rather big with a common shower, but we're here alone, a very small balcony with a view over the plains of Sparta, but it's clean and we're going to take it. Christina offers us portokali (freshly squeezed juice) and then we can settle. We put all our stuff on the beds and go for a drink. What will we have: it is only 11:30, so ouzo or something similar is not done; otherwise we'll be in bed the whole day. We have two frappes and discuss what we'll be doing the next couple of days. Today we go to Gytheio and tomorrow we are staying in Mystras to check out the site and the day after that we'll go to Sparta. That was a quick decision.

At about one in the afternoon we drive to Gytheio that is about 42 kilometers from Sparta on a beautiful road with mountains on both sides. The views are spectacular, almost as pretty as the one we have on the balcony: in front we see the plain and very far away high mountains and behind us the castle with the monasteries (visit for tomorrow) and the highest peak of the Peloponnesus. The views here are the best. Outside the temperature is nice too and after an hour we arrive in the town. We look for the theatre for 20 minutes, but of course don't find it (the Greek way) and buy ourselves a small lunch in a mini-market: cherries, bread and nectarines. We eat lunch at the seaside, because we now are at the coast: Gytheio is a small town with a small harbor. We have hard wind, but the sun is shining, so we enjoy every moment. We walk down the streets and along the quay, but there is not a lot to see.

The streets here are being ruled by rubbish. On the corner of almost every street there is a dirt bag or many bag. It is not clean at all: it seems like the local dirt-bag-collectors are on strike, but that would not be a big surprise, when you're aware of the current economical problems in Greece.

At about four we leave back to Sparta, we had to avoid driving too hard, because there were cameras on that road and look for a supermarket to buy beer, retsina, breakfast and a bit rigani-chips. These are the most important ingredients of our mornings and evenings in Greece. It takes a while before we know the PLU-system on the scales, but luckily Timo has experience in restaurants, otherwise we'd still be messing about.

We find the way back to Mystras easily (good road signs) and wear something warmer. Close to these high mountains it can get chilly when the sun is gone. There are heavy clouds on top of the mountain range, from time to time we can see the sun, but on the terrace of the "Estiaorio Kastro" we are not always in the sun. The wind lows hard, so it's not always pleasant to drink ouzo out of the sun. The ouzo tastes very good, with ice and water and we get a bit of chips with it. Then it is too cold for T (yes, even for him), because the sun has sunk behind the hills and wearing a short and T-shirt is too cold.

We stop to buy some cigarettes, only Marlboro Light, then head back to the room wear long trousers and write the report with a canned Mythos, a pack of chips rigani and a very relaxing feeling. With a view like this you can become a hundred years old. The Greeks need to import more menthol cigarettes then. You can't have 'em all. The ouzo and Mythos start to work, so a shower is required. Eef takes the first turn and then Timo. Later one we need to have a snack and especially we want to enjoy the evening and the holidays here in Hellas.

When we're both ready we walk to the restaurant, where we drank frappe at noon and a few moment ago the ouzo and now we have chima lefko, order another chima and then order the food: the calamari are frozen, so we have souvlaki kotopoulo and a bit of chorta and piperies. The red peppers are pickled and then heated a bit, but really very nice. Of course we like it and we talk about stuff, return to our room and talk some more and drink Mythos. We go to bed rather late and have difficulty getting to sleep. The bed makes noises and when one of us moves, the other one is woken up. The blinds are not completely closed either so it's not completely dark in the room. What the hell: if we want to, we can have a siesta tomorrow.

 

Wednesday May 19, 2010: Mystras and its archeological site

We're quite awake at seven thirty already, the sun shines into the room, because we did not close the blinds properly, like already mentioned yesterday. The roosters are crowing and during the night some dogs have been barking; as a consequence our sleep was not sufficient. But­ were still young and we can handle it. We get up on time, have a slice of bread with cheese, salami and ketchup on an improvised breakfast table (i.e.: fridge) and sit on the balcony enjoying the beautiful view. Right in front of us we see the plain of Sparta, the city itself and a bit further away the mountains. All the way from left to right a high mountain-ridge stretches with white clouds hanging over it. We don't have any coffee yet, so we need to order that at restaurant Kastro. After our breakfast Christina, our hostess brings two fresh orange juices. We drink them just before we leave for coffee.

Immediately after the coffee we leave to the site higher up the mountains: when we check it out from below we think it's worth a visit. We drive to the lower perking, leave the car here and then explore the site. We start at the Evangelistria-church and walk on to the Despot's Palace. The site here is a bastion from the Byzantine era and there are some churches, a huge palace under renovation and a castle high up the mountain. We can't enter in most of the churches, because we forgot our "appropriate clothes": how stupid. The path leads us up to the Afendiko-church and from there to the Pantanassa-monastery. We can enter here with some cloth wrapped around our shoulders. The churches are small, pretty from the outside, but the inner part is not really nice. This can't be said of this monastery. The wall-paintings are really magnificent and the ex-voto's hang from the frescos. An ex-voto serves to cure people or to bring luck to people with a dangerous profession.

We follow the steep path from the monastery back to the exit and take the car to the second entrance on a higher part of the site, right below the castle. Just before us a group of German tourists arrive, so we first take a different route than them. After fifteen minutes we're at the top and enjoy the view. The plain in front of us and the rocky mountains behind us: it is just marvelous. We check the castle ruins out and then walk back down to see another church: the Aja Sofia and the Agios Nikolaos. The Palace is being renovated already for some years now, so it's a pity we can't visit the biggest monument on the site. We have a peach at the Aja Sofia, drink water and after three hours here we return to the car. From this point we return to the centre of Mystras.

Eef wants to stay here drink a Mythos and read a book. Timo goes to Sparta city for cigarettes. In the town it is busy as usual; Timo even is in a traffic jam due to an accident with a BMW and a Mercedes-van. The van has pushed the car on the central reservation over the sidewalk, but luckily nobody is wounded. Timo walks through the city on the big boulevard and along the town square at the Dymarchio and then back to the car. In a periptero he buys two packs of menthol cigarettes (Salem), because in Mystras they didn't have any menthol.

He escapes the city and takes the road to Parorio and hopes to find his way back to Mystras. The road leads out of the city into the mountains and he takes a big detour to the MountTaygetos. It's a narrow road that leads very steep up- or downwards to an altitude of over 2000 meters. From here the castle of Mystras looks like a small building, but the view over the surrounding mountains and the plain is really extraordinary. Timo enjoys the view, smokes a cigarette, only surrounded by the sound of birds and the calmness of the forest: this is a good way to relax. He left Mystras over an hour ago and does not want Eef to worry, so he drives back to Mystras and arrives at the small road close to our room. He parks the car and walks to the terrace, where he was supposed to meet Eef again. She just started her second Mythos, Timo drinks also some, tries not to eat the pistachio nuts, but does not really succeeds very well at that.

In the meantime it's almost three o'clock in he afternoon and we have a short siesta, since we're in Greece. Timo write the report with a Mythos, Eef rests, but then also Timo takes it easy. It's a pity to sleep time away, but it's refreshing. We've also just decided to stay here only for two nights instead of three. We'll need to inform Christina that we'll leave tomorrow and then we head east to explore the biggest part of the coast there. Hopefully she doesn't mind, but we don't think she will.

We have several options now: either we have a beer here or an aperitif on a terrace. We decide to do the latter. A small bottle of ouzo Plomari and then order something to eat: kolokithokeftedes, one choriatiki and moussakas. Eef already wanted those zucchini-balls yesterday, but we did not want to order 5 dishes, so we have it today. The moussakas is really very good with a little cinnamon flavor and real potatoes as lowest layer. Sometimes they used mashed potatoes, but with normal pieces of potato it is better. We drink two carafes of white wine and enjoy the food on the terrace: back home we could only eat outside once, so we now love it. We need to wear a jacket, but it's very nice when the wind no longer blows and as always the wind falls at seven. On our private balcony we drink two more bottles of retsina (Malamatina and Kourtaki), chat some more and then go to bed.

 

Thursday May 20, 2010: Transfer to Neapoli

This report is being written with a view on the Bay of Lakonikos, the harbor and the site of Monemvassia: we've seen worse places; this is really great. How we got here, you can read below.

Our day starts at ten to seven, when we wake up by the barking of the dogs, the crowing of the roosters and the light of the sun. It looks like it's going to be a normal Greek vacation day. We have breakfast again on our balcony: bread, cheese, salami and ketchup and drink water. We can't prepare any coffee and we don't want to bother Christina to make coffee for us. When we've packed we pay the room and get another fresh orange juice, so we can start the journey. We receive a "Kalo Dromo", drink a coffee at Kastro's and then head for Sparta to move on to Neapoli. In Sparta we already see signs to Neapoli for 112 kilometer. We drive through the mountains with many plantations of oranges and vines. We drive upwards and downwards through the mountains. We first follow direction Krokees and then to Skala to the southern tip of the Peloponnesus.

In Skala we can choose two directions, a small yellow road on the map or a larger red one. We want to follow the smaller road, because that follows the coast line, but there are road works and it's blocked, so we have to take the bigger one. Passing through Velies and Demonia we race towards Vinglafia, where there is a ferry to the small islet of Elafonissos and from this village it's only 11 kilometers to Neapoli. After a drive of two hours we reach the city. It's close to the sea and it's pretty busy and there is a hard wind. This wind is always present during this vacation, along the coast, I the mountains, practically everywhere. Neapoli consists of a big street along the beach and some smaller streets into the centre. Everything gives us the impression that it used to be better here. We sit down at a table to decide what we'll do. Either we stay here and if we do, for how many days. With the help of the guide Trotter we decide to do a day excursion to Elafonissos, but now we'll drive on to Monemvassia.

One frappe and half an hour later we take the Matiz and drive back the same direction as we came. At the village Kriovrisi we take a small road to Monemvassia, drive over two ridges with beautiful view points. Sometimes we see the sea from here, on other times we only can see desolate mountains. When we start the descent to the sea, the rocks are being replaced with lush olive trees. We see some road signs to the olive industry and that is not remarkable. It takes us about an hour before we see the beach and the sea again and then suddenly we take a curve and are surprised about the view and in a very positive way. In front of the beach there is a huge mountain; there is the archeological site and the ruins of a castle on the top.

We drive on to the centre and see a very nice fishermen's village with plenty of taverns, rooms to let and a few hotels. This is it; here we'll stay and we're happy that we did not stay in Neapoli, but came here, although it was a drive of another hour through the mountains with an average speed of about 50. We park the car on the parking spot close to the bridge that connects the mountain and the harbor and the site. We walk along the water and search a place to stay for the next couple of days and we find it with "Antonakos Rooms to let". He charges 40 Euro per night and we quickly decide to stay here: the room is not very big, the bathroom even smaller, but we have a small kitchen with refrigerator and a very big balcony with a view on the harbor and the mountain in front of the coast: a good address and a very friendly guy, who says we speak very pure Greek.

Eef unpacks the most important stuff and then it's time to walk around and to grab something to eat and have a drink. We have become thirsty from taking important decisions: to stay in Neapoli or not, which room to rent: that causes some stress J, so a drink-moment is needed. We walk to the village and already spot a pita-bar after five minutes. Yes, we stop here, drink a Mythos and eat a pita gyro and kotopoulo in the wind, in the shadow with a view on the sea. We like it a lot here. The pita is very good: meat, tomato, fries, onion and some tzatziki with it: tastes very good. We enjoy the good weather and have a short walk along the beach and then return to our room. Eef reads a while and Timo writes the report and takes a backup of the pictures.

Eef wants some rest, but Timo does not feel like doing nothing, so he decides to have a stroll to the old village. He walks along the beach, up to wards the mountain and has a beautiful view on the rocks en the sea. Timo spots a Eurasian nuthatch that is hunting for insects: a very pretty bird and it is not really a very common species. He walks further to the beginning of the medieval city, but does not enter it, because he assumes he has to pay to enter. He walks back to the room and sees Eef already from the harbor. She is ready for dinner, has taken a shower already, so Timo hurries (in the Greek way), takes a shower and then we go to a kafeneio.

We have a karafaki ouzo Plomari with chtapodi psito, nice, nice, nice. Then we go for the actual dinner, first buy some stuff like coffee, fruit, water and milk. We leave everything in the room and then go to Psarotaverna Skorpios, only twenty meter from our room. It's busy, one table has just asked for the bill and four others are occupied. The cats are having the time of their lives, because from every customer they get something to eat and as a consequence there are a lot of cats here: seven, we even counted. We order garidokeftedes (actually normal shrimp croquettes, but in Greek it tastes a lot better) with chorta and then stuffed calamari. It is stuffed with feta, tomato and paprika, really, really very good and that makes the day perfect. A bit of chima lefko and that is the finishing touch. First pita, then octopus and then calamari, really super and that all on a magnificent location.

In our room we watch some of the pictures of the last couple of days, drink a Mythos, watch some TV and then go to sleep. It's after eleven, so during the holidays that is pretty late for us. We sleep at about 23:30 and have a good rest.

 

Friday May 21, 2010: Medieval city and snorkeling

We are awake at seven in the morning. We both have a mission: Eef makes coffee, that's an easy one and Timo looks for a bakery to buy bread: actually not hard either, just out of the street, then next to (dipla) the bank of Hellas, buy a bread, a bit down the road two tomatoes and for about one Euro we have a good breakfast. Coffee with cheese, salami, tomato, ketchup and we love the morning sun. A bit later we can't enjoy the sun anymore, because a storm is on the way. We change our plans and will not walk to the medieval city, but take the car to actually do our planes for tomorrow: The Cave of Kastania and Elafonissos. We first have another attempt, but when we reach the harbor thunder and lightning starts again, so we definitely go for plan "cave and islet". The car is in front of the door, we both have our long trousers and good shoes with us, because the weather does not permit otherwise this morning.

We already leave at 09:30 and drive to Neapoli; we were there already yesterday, we think. Once we have reached the high altitude the visibility is zero. The clouds are so low today that at some place we only have 10 meter visibility. Despite of the bad circumstances Timo drives on and on the other side of the hill weather is better. We can already see the shores, drive to Neapoli and there we see the indication to the cave. We head back into the mountains, see how the clouds pass along us on a peak; they head upwards along the slope and then disappear. The visibility improves, especially in comparison with Monemvassia and Neapoli. The road leads downwards towards the coast and then back up to the cave.

We pass a few peaks and suddenly Timo stops rather abrupt. He sees an eagle flying away from the asphalt into the valley with a snake in the beak and Eef has seen that too. That's a really cool sight. We try to locate the eagle's landing spot, but in vain. The sky is full with birds of prey: one eagle after the other passes us by. In total after a trip of a bit more than an hour we reach Kastania or better the cave. Over the mountains with the beautiful views, over the rough rocks and then the splendid little beaches down below, we arrive in no-man's-land. The mountains are very bare, but apparently there is a beautiful cave here. We're lucky because the caves are only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday; a good decision we did not come tomorrow. We need to wait for half an hour, because the guide is still doing a tour and we're not allowed alone inside the cave?

So we have a frappe and everyone starts to laugh because Timo orders in Greek. The ladies apparently had a lot of fear to ask what we wanted to drink, but thanks to the knowledge of the Greek language of Eef and Timo it is not a problem. It is nice to linger in the sun, we have our frappe and at 11:15 we're advised to buy a ticket and to follow the guide to the entrance of the cave. The cave is well closed with an iron gate; we can still take pictures here, but once inside we're no longer allowed. We get the explanation about how a shepherd discovered the cave when he was looking for water and see the hole how he entered the cave. We see the stalagmites and stalactites and also the curtains, sometimes recognize an elephant in the strange shapes of the cave and on other place an eagle or a geisha. The cave is really beautiful, especially because there are so many stalagmites. When you look to the ceiling it almost looks like a pincushion. The Greek of the guide is good and the English is rather good too: it's surprising that we understand the Greek sentences to from time to time.

The location where the shepherd found water and made fire is still visible here; a small puddle of water and a part of the cave is covered with black ashes. The tour lasts a bit over half an hour and then we're back. The weather is good enough to go to Elafonissos, so we do that. We drive to Neapoli and from there to Pounda where a small ferry takes us to the island. The water has beautiful colors and the alone is already worth a visit here. The crossing only takes 1¨¤ minutes and we check out the village. A small harbor, a church and apart from that only taverns and restaurants. We start to feel hungry, so we stop at a tavern that is opening the first day of the season. We're even the first table of the day and of the "Kalo Kalokeiri'. We order choriatiki, sardelles, karafaki ouzo Plomari and see the harbor and the water. Right in front of us are the octopuses drying for later that day. We enjoy the sun that from time to time shows up between the clouds and also the food and drinks.

Because we're the first table of the season they treat us three little crabs and we eat those for free. A great offer that will be accepted with gratitude and a small tip. The ferry leaves at 13:30 (we're too late for that) and at 15:30: that's the one we'll take. We did order another bottle of Plomari, so Eef races back to Monemvassia. It's the first time she'll be driving the Matiz, but of course she does that well and races through the mountains like she never has done something else. In less than an hour we're back home; every Greek village quickly becomes our home. We have a drink on the balcony, Timo writes the travel report and Eef looks for an Internet-caf¨¦, because she wants to send something to her friends-colleagues. We meet at the same kafeneio from yesterday at about six, so I have to hurry up to get there on time. That's something we never do in Greece: to hurry up.

Eef is already waiting with an Alfa in the sun. They don't server Mythos, so we don't take Amstel, no Heineken, but the other Greek beer: Alfa. We're in the sun and temperature is pretty good still. The clouds from this morning have disappeared and we've had a good day despite of the bad forecast of today. Eef had experience a lot of things, keyboard and stuff, but she'll need to write that herself.

We drink the beer; ten head back to the room to prepare for dinner. We don't need a lot of food, because we had crab, sardelles and choriatiki for lunch. We walk to the ouzeri Korali, where we already had a pita, so we now eat another one (one Kotopoulo and one gyro) and have choriatiki with it. On the way to the ouzeri we see in the harbor a head appearing above the water. It seems like a turtle is trapped in the harbor, maybe even more than one, because we see a lot of head surfacing. Cool! On the Peloponnesus there is a large area where the carretta carretta make their nests, but that on the other side of the mountains, close to Gythio. We should have checked that when we were there.

Tomorrow we won't have a Greek salad, because that would be too much: we already had two today. We drink Mythos here and also at home and then watch a Bond-movie on Star: The World is not enough. Eef gets up to go hunting for mosquitoes, because she got bitten yesterday and does not want that again today. After the movie we got o sleep: it is already after eleven and had enough to drink.

 

Saturday May 22, 2010: Exploration of the medieval city and snorkeling and do nothing

During the night a few mosquitoes ruined our sleep, especially Eef's by buzzing through the room the whole night. Already at seven thirty Timo gets out on the terrace to proofread the reports, look at the pictures again and internet wireless. It's rather surprising that we have a connection here via the laptop. He looks for the address of NafplioDivingCenter, Sekeri Street in Tolo and checks a few mails. This is much easier than on the old greasy laptop yesterday, like Eef did.

I find it really astonishing. In Mystras Timo already tried, but did not succeed. Now outside the real world, in a small village, on the end of the eastern peninsula of Peloponnesus we have internet. We have breakfast with coffee, cheese, salami and tomato and then plan the rest of the day. The idea is to walk to the city, while the sun is still shining and if the sun stays we can go snorkeling this afternoon.

Part one of the plan is OK; we walk through the village, over the bridge and along the road to the old Byzantine part of Monemvassia. After about thirty minutes we arrive there and the clouds are starting to block the sun. Under a dark old entrance gate we arrive in the city and walk to the square where a small museum is located, a church and an old clock tower. We climb to the even older part of the city, but we see only ruins. The only thing that still is intact is a small church all the way at the top. Here we start a walk on the elevated terrain with small bushes and many spiders and other insects. We reach a small wall that protects the visitors from falling down. It is very high and very steep down. The path winds over the slippery stones and boulders downwards: it has started to rain, so that makes it even more slippery. We try to find shelter on the way down, but under the trees the water is still coming through and that has no benefit.

We walk all the way to the central square again in the alleys and stop for a coffee. We can use the warmth, because when the sun went away and the rain started it got a bit chilly ¨C even Timo feels that. It's almost noon when we start our walk back to the village and to our room. We try to find some alternatives for snorkeling, but that's not easy. The nesting beaches of the turtles are 2 to 3 hours away, so that's too far. That means we need to look for some action here. On the balcony we have wireless again, so we send a few mails; Eef to work and mum and dad, Timo to a few friends, in an attempt to kill time.

Then the sun shines again through the clouds, but powerful enough to look for a nice spot to snorkel. First we drive to PoriBeach, but we don't think that is worth to stay, difficult to access and probably nothing to see. We take the car again and then drive towards KsifiasBeach. Before we reach that beach we see a sign AmpelikaBeach. We have a look and decide to snorkel here. We put our shorty on, mask, snorkel, fins, and camera: we take it all. When we enter the water the sun disappears again and the water is really cool. Eef stays in for 10 minutes, but Timo is under the spell of taking pictures and stays in for 20 minutes. In the meantime it has started to rain again; Eef just wanted to get in the car, when Timo comes out. We take the car back to the room, clean the gear and take a shower. Its pretty cold, so a hot shower is really welcome. We saw damselfish, rainbow wrasse, mullets, sea bream, and a painted comber in a beautiful under water landscape. The rocks are covered with plants and other things. It is pretty nice under water, even if the sun isn't shining.

While watching the raindrops Eef sees a turtlehead coming to the surface. We even can follow it when it doesn't dive too deep from here. We see it surfacing about ten times, a few times even with the complete shell. Because of the dark clouds there is not enough light to zoom properly, so we can't take any better pictures than yesterday. Eef runs between the raindrops and buys beer, cigarettes, card: we almost had nothing left. The rain pours down, sometimes hard then a little less. Timo keeps himself busy with the pictures, the reports and Eef reads a book in bed under a blanket. The temperature fell when the sun has gone away, so the blanket is OK. Maybe later we'll still hunt for turtles.

Timo takes a walk in the village; by now we've already explored every square inch of Monemvassia: in 'Η Τρατα’ we will find something good to eat later. For one they serve gigandes and Eef wants to have them. After about one hour Timo return to the room and we leave to the psirotaverna. We order ouzo Plomari. They try to sell Varvagianni, but we know Greek to good for that: Plomari it needs to be. With the ouzo and the gigandes we have tiri saganaki and also garides saganaki and garidomakaronadia.  So we eat four shrimps per person and we've always liked it. We have not done a lot today, but we tired early and we go to the room after spotting a few turtles. This is really fun, because they surface with their head above the water and then you need a quick reaction to take pictures, otherwise you're too late. At about nine we're really tires, light our candles and go to bed. A calm days comes to an end and tomorrow we leave here to start a long drive to Nafplio. We already have the address of the dive center, so we only need to find a place to sleep tomorrow.

 

Sunday May 23, 2010: Trip to Nafplio

The night has brought to us some relief from the heat by soft rain. It also brought the sound of buzzing mosquitoes, especially a disadvantage for Eef. Even in the morning there are still some flying around and annoying us. We then decide to get up. It's only six thirty, so actually too early and relatively cold, because the sun is still climbing the mountain in front of us. The old medieval city is right in the east and deprives us from the rising sun.

Timo goes out to buy bread, but at about seven there is no fresh bread yet, so he buys toast-bread and a chocolate-croissant: they do have that. We also need to withdraw money, because we've almost spent our last cash. It's only enough to take 100 Euro and that is just enough to pay for the room. We have breakfast with croissant, toast-bread with cheese and salami and Eef has already made coffee. That is always very nice: a good cup of coffee in the morning. We have several cups, the sun is now shining about the mountain and then it's time to pack and leave. The packing is really fast: snorkeling- and scuba-gear inside a big plastic bag, smaller things go into the hand luggage bag and the rest in small plastic bags and the large suitcase. After half an hour we're ready to go. We load everything into the Matiz, pay: luckily they did not forget Timo's passport, because we did ¨C again ¨C not think about it. That's typical; we certainly mustn't forget next time.

It is only 08:10 and Timo starts the car and we race through the Greek mountains. From Monemvassia there is a small mountain road to Agios Ioannis, on to Sykia; there we go onto the larger road that we also followed when going to Neapoli. Via Molai and Apidia we head into the mountains again following smaller roads that should lead us to the sea. Like whole the time during the trip the mountain ranges are marvelous, sometimes there are olive trees, cypresses, large pine trees and on other spots nothing grows, only small bushes and rocks are visible on the slopes. Also the trip between Kremasti and Peleta is beautiful; we see a herd of sheep and a bit further goat. Directly behind the goats the recently paved road has disappeared and changes into a dirty land road. A few kilometers further we encounter this situation again, but it's only for a few miles so it's not that bad.

For a few moments we have the impression we took the wrong direction, but that is more due to the quality of the maps of Greece than to us. Pirgoudi and Poulithra are located into different directions on the map, but first we pass Pirgoudi and then see a very steep road down to Poulithra. A beautiful scenic route down to the sea: yes, we already have a sea view now and that's always nice. Then we follow direction of Leonidio, but don't take the road to the centre. We stop to tank gas and a bit further Eef takes over the wheel. According to the map of Nick & John Fotis Ltd. This is a really scenic route, even worth to mention it along with 41 other routes in Greece. And the route is indeed very beautiful. The road is good, leads us sometimes 100 ¨C 200 meters above sea-level, then to reach the sea again. We regularly see very beautiful bays, small churches and chapels rising above the hills and watch out over the steep rocks, who find their ending in the sea.

We follow direction Astos and then further towards Argos and arrive in the bay of Nafplion. The bay is large and very beautiful, but the smaller bays have made a better impression than this large one. We notice that there is a lot of industry around here and are very surprised that we haven't seen a sign to Nafplion and we're only ten kilometers away from the city. We follow Neos Kios and then the road along the coast to Nafplion. When we arrive there it is very very busy: it is almost impossible to find a free place on the parking or a free room in a busy place like this. We cruise the city for about ten minutes and then decide to check Tolo out: there the NafplioDivingCenter is located and that might make things easier when we find something there. We have no problem driving out of the city and find easily the way to Tolo. When we arrive there we see a long street with rooms everywhere, shops and many tourists. Because of this Trotter says that you should avoid Tolo. All the way in the back of the street we see the dive center and we also see some rooms and hotels. We check out the neighborhood first and ask next to Hotel Aktaion if they still have rooms available: a large room with sea view, only for 30 Euro, so we take it for 4 nights. We unpack quickly and then have a drink and eat something: Mythos, calamari, tzatziki, also with sea view.

Then we need some rest, Eef walks down the street, has a drink and then returns along the beach: the dive center is not open yet. Timo takes the car and drives over the mountains to Epidauros, where we were last year too; he enjoys the view on the harbor, sees the orange trees and has a Mythos. If Tolo would not have been good, then we would have come here, but Tolo is OK, so we stay and now we only need to hope that we can dive. On the way back Timo stops for a Mycenaean bridge, takes some pictures and notices that Eef is reading a book on the balcony. Then Eef takes a nap, Timo makes a short walk, drinks a Mythos and writes the report of the day. We call Kostas of the NafplioDivingCenter, but his instructor has problems with his knee. When we can find another diving school, he advises we do that, because he can't make any promises. If we don't find anything else, we should give him a call back. That means we have two options. Either we dive in Epidauros or somewhere in Porto Heli. We prefer Epidauros and drive there to ask Pascal whether we can dive one of the next days.

We're ready rather quickly and drive to Epidauros: Timo remembers the way very well, so we move pretty fast, except when a French guy is driving in front of us very slowly with his camper. It takes a bit longer than this afternoon, but we get there without a problem. Mike from the Hotel Mike, where we stayed last year suggests calling Pascal, but he does not answer the phone. We decide to eat something here: gemista and a Greek salad with a kilo of aspro krasi. We love it, but Pascal is a no show today, so we need to call back tomorrow morning at about nine, says Mike. It is already pretty late when we leave Epidauros, about 22:00, so it's racing time. Through the mountains in the dark Timo drives even faster. We drink another Mythos after our arrival and ouzo and retsina. It is very pleasant, because the wind has dropped. We watch some TV and then go to sleep a bit after midnight.

 

Monday May 24, 2010: Mycenae, Nafplion and the beach of Tolo

In the morning we don't have sun on our balcony, but the temperature is already very nice, when the sun is a bit higher in the sky. We'll have direct sunshine here, but then we will be on the move. We plan to depart to Mycenae after the traditional breakfast of coffee, toast bread, cheese and ketchup, then stop at Nafplion and later we'll see. Depending on the time back in Tolo we can rest or do something more active: work our color for example. First we call Pascal of Epidive and Timo can arrange that we certainly can dive twice tomorrow: one in the morning and another one in the afternoon. He's not sure yet for Wednesday though, because he can't confirm that yet. we take the car to the site of Mycenae to visit the famous Lion Gate and other parts of the site.

Water? Check! Tourist guides? Check! We also take the cameras and we can go. First we drive to Nafplion and from there the road to Argos. Here we need to take the way to Corinth to arrive in Mycenae village with a small detour. It looks very calm and we fear that the site will be closed because it's a holiday and the quietness here enlarges our fear. We follow the road up from the village to the site and do notice people walking on the site, so we're lucky. We are lucky even twice today: entrance is free. We walk directly to the most famous part of the site: the Lion gate: quite impressive. The gate gave access to the castle and the walls around it are colossal blocks of stone. This is then immediately the highlight of the visit.

A bit further we see the royal grave-circle. There are six graves, but we can only spot three clearly and they are surrounded by a double row of standing stones that were originally covered and formed a king of gallery. Via the ramps we walk up to the palace. The remains here are not really spectacular and we need a lot of fantasy to see a palace here. The views from the top over the plains of Argos and the mountains around the site really make it worth to be here. Via ruins of a temple and ¡®The House of Columns4 we reach the lower entrance gate of Mycenae and two cisterns. One of it is under the ground and a dark stone staircase leads us 18 meters down. Eef does not go that far down, because it's slippery and pretty dangerous, especially because the Greeks have put metal pillars in the middle of the stairs.

Our way now leads back to the direction of the entrance to the lower part of the site: Tholos Tomb of Aegisthus and of Clytemnestra. A long way between mounting walls heads for the tomb. The tomb of Aegisthus has collapsed, but the other one still shows the dome on top of the grave, pretty impressive, especially because the stones have been fitted well together. Then it's time for a visit to the small museum of the site. Here we see pottery, decoration of clothing, images of animals in clay, but also in gold. Images of snakes is something we haven't seen a lot in Greece yet, but there are plenty on display here. Some tablets and death masks are the highlight of the exhibition.

After the visit to the main site of Mycenae, we drive off to the lower Treasury of Atreus. We park in the shadow, because it's a beautiful and hot day and Timo does not want to burn his hands on the steering wheel. We visit the tomb and the concept of this one is the same as the two we already saw, only this one if even bigger and more impressive. The entrance is a gate with thresholds of over 120 tons. The inside room has the shape of a beehive and that adds to the monument, knowing these stones were placed 1300 before Christ. It's a great monument to stop the visit to Mycenae.

We take the road back to Nafplion, because we also want to see this. We find parking easily in the beginning of town and walk over the quay till we reach the busy centre. The terraces bulge with tourists and causes a lot of noise due to the typical Greek babbling. We like the castle in front of the quay, but only for the view we don't want to stay in this part of the city. We then decide to walk through the alleys and find a nice taverna to eat and drink. Taverna O Christoforos offers us the possibility of having a portion of sardines with dolmades and we think we've almost had everything specifically Greek dishes, which we need to have every visit in Greece. After lunch we look for the entrance of the castle Akronafplio, can't locate it immediately, so we walk back to the car and drive back to Tolo. We already know our way around, so that is not a problem.

After 20 minutes we're in Tolo and decide to snorkel and sunbathe (to work our color is very exhausting). We use the beach right in front of our rooms Kefala Marina, but there is not a lot to see. The buoys are beautiful, but there is not a lot of fish. We do see damselfish, sardines, a painted comber, a couple of slugs and some hermit crabs. There are no rocks here, but in the end it's still OK. On the sand there are a lot of anchors, old ones, rusty and worn, but also new ones that are still being used. We rest in the sun, Eef only stays half an hour, cleans the snorkeling gear and Timo stays here for over an hour. He decides to go back when the wind picks up and a bus of German students arrive here. No more resting. Then he can have a shower and clean the other gear. In the meantime Eef performs a good deed: she buys coffee, Mythos, rigani chips as an aperitif.

On our balcony we read, write the reports of the day and watch the pictures of today and the previous days. Having some sun in the background always is pleasant. We're happy we've discovered Peloponnesus; it's only a pity that the weather can't be trusted and the wind is always present. Then it's time again for some action and we walk half way down the street, look at the shops, but don't buy anything. At Estiatorio Panorama we drink ouzo Plomari and eat chtapodi psito. We also get a small plate with tomato, cucumber, potatoes and the pink salad of fish eggs. How's that called again? Right, tarama.

Then we go back to the room, have an ice-cream: Timo takes one with Baileys and Eef with cherries and cream. We receive the ice in a cone and we eat while walking. Where will we be writing that down? In the report of course. We are early in our room, drink ouzo, retsina and beer. Then we go to sleep and we set the alarm at eight o'clock. Tomorrow it will be clear it was Belgian time, but as always Timo is awake on time.

 

Tuesday May 25, 2010: Diving in Epidauros

Timo is awake at seven already and has a mission for the day. We've had plenty of mission although we're on vacation. He first goes out to see the rising sun at the beach and then he buys bread at O Fournos, buys also some oranges, about eight to make fresh orange juice. We've discovered a juicer. When he returns home Eef is still in bed waking up. Timo makes the fresh juice, puts bread and cheese on the table and makes coffee. Also here we have a small pan on a small cooker. Coffee tastes good and ensures we can wake up. Our coordination is not yet OK, because we spill and need to clean the table three times. We make sure we have everything to go diving in Epidauros with Pascal. Timo wears his Epidive-T-shirt and Eef takes her Mokarran of South-Africa. We mustn't forget snorkels, masks, fins, towels and plenty of water and we can leave.

We had the plan to leave at 08:30, because it's a drive of 45 minutes, if there are no slug on the road. We leave at 08:38 and follow the same road as Timo has already done the last couple of days. We know the road pretty well and even know when some curves are approaching. It takes us almost an hour: first a slow bus, then a pickup truck that was driving only 50 an hour. Only the last bit we can race, but we're still right on time. The Greek way: siga siga. Pascal is on the terrace of Hotel Mike, first drink something and then dive. Eef drinks a normal coffee and Timo a frappe: metrio choris gala. Then Pascal asks us to prepare everything. We try our vests, wetsuits and Timo also takes a hood in order to stay warm under water. Eef has her "chicken vest", so she does not need a separate hood.

Everything on board for two dives: the first and the second dive will be on the same anchoring spot, but number one is straight ahead and the other one to the right along the wall and returning a big shallower. We have a bit of problems with the belts on the vests, but Timo solves this for himself and also for Eef. We're ready to leave. Pascal anchors the boat, checks the propeller, because there was an issue and then we can enter the water. From up here we already see it will be worth it. We start the dive to four meter and then it goes deeper and deeper. Pascal spots an octopus and tries to catch it. At first he manages, but can't hold to it. We see the octopus squirting ink and then swim away very fast. Pascal follows it, but in vain: this octopus is very fit. We descend even more and see a lot of nets hanging from the wall. They are covered beautifully and on the rocks sponges grow. We see some crabs, starfish, a small lobster and the typical fish of the Mediterranean: damselfish, bream, wrasses and stuff. The dive is very nice.

Then Pascal and Jean (a diver from Brussels) descend deeper and deeper. Eef continues to follow these guys to a depth of 44 meters, so this becomes a deco-dive. Also Timo is in deco, because he sees 7 minute stop on his computer. At this depth it is cold and there is not a lot to see. The crabs are here, but we also saw them at lower depth, so actually I can't think of any reason to dive so deep. But Pascal is a CMAS-diver and it seems like they look for the kick in deep diving. Timo is not too pleased that Eef is almost diving as deep as the other two. We have learnt to not descend below 40 for a reason. We don't really stay a long time below 40, so it won't do that much harm. Then we ascend again, because Timo has already used hundred bar. A bit higher we see a planehead filefish. There are also a lot of places where we see the eggs of a nudibranch: the dotted sea slug, so Timo needs to take some pictures of it. After 40 minutes Pascal signals to stop the dive. In the meantime everyone is OK according to their computer and we can go to the surface. At the end pretty shallow Timo sees a scorpionfish, a small one, but it's nice to stop the dive like this.

We go on board and prepare everything for the second dive. We have a surface interval of one hour and forty minutes; we go back in the water twice to cool down and then it is time again to dive the second one. Now we'll dive along the wall to the right until someone (probably Timo) reaches 100 bar and then return to the boat. Now also Eef has her camera with her, because the first dive might have been too deep for it, so we did not take any chances, but now she can. In the first part of the dive we see a lot of fireworms, different in size: some even seem to be 40 centimeter. Starfish are here too and the site is famous for the amphora's spread over the bottom. In Epidauros there must still be a treasure of antiquities lying on the sea-floor. We see a dozen examples here. Special for this dive is the amphora's, a nudibranch that Eef does not see, but Timo has a nice picture of it. A blenny, again starfish, sponges, some very big.

Then it's about time to go back to the boat and dive a bit higher. Eef sees the dead body of a fish that is being eaten by many fireworms. Again we see the eggs of the nudibranch, some large mussels, wrasses, bream, many sea-urchins and the normal inhabitants of the Greek waters. We don't go deco now, although we dive pretty deep, but the computer indicate one minute before deco, so that's good. During the safety stop Pascal see a fishing net that holds many animals. He takes his knife and frees the animals from the net. He goes way too deep, but it's positive that he releases these animals. Well done! We dive on to the boat and stop at 50 minutes dive time. That very nice for a second dive. We surface and ensure we put everything in the crates and then sail back to the harbor of Epidauros. It takes only ten minutes, we clean our gear and can take a shower. The water is nice and warm, because it got chilly at the end of the second dive: even Timo had cold feet.

When we reach land, we see Linda, Patrik and Pat and Ann, eating and that's nice. We have a beer, order one spaghetti for the two of us and then drink some more beers. They serve Mythos in half liters, so we feel it when we drive back to Tolo at about six. Traffic is OK and we're back within the hour. We don't need a shower anymore, but Eef buys beer, cheese and withdraws money, while Timo finishes the report of yesterday and starts the one of today.

Then we do a short walk on the mainstreet of Tolo, eat something small: choriatiki, pita gyros and pita souvlaki kotopoulo. After the weekend it's not busy anymore, so we eat quietly at the side of the street. We drink another Mythos here and one on our balcony. Then Timo checks the beach out and sees that one of the small islands is lit very beautifully in the evening. When he returns back in the room Eef is reading the last pages of her book and then we go to sleep. Two dives in a day is exhausting and then twice the distance Tolo - Epidauros - Tolo is also tiring. So we sleep and tomorrow we get up for the last dive on our vacation.

 

Wednesday May 26, 2010: Dive in Epidauros

Again we are up early: Timo already at seven and Eef stays in bed for about half an hour. Fresh orange juice, coffee, bread with cheese and ketchup on our balcony with view on the two hotels in front of us and of course at the sea. They said they had given us the best room and that could be true, because on the top floor the owners are living. We take everything for the dive at Pascal in Epidauros: fins, masks, computers (certainly needed when diving with Pascal), towels, money, and water. Check! Everything in the car and we leave like yesterday at 08:30 to Epidauros. This is the forth time for Timo, the third for Eef and by now Timo knows the way very good. No curve has any secrets left: normal when you did this route that many times.

At the dive center everything goes faster than yesterday, because we already knew which suits we needed and which vests. Timo now receives a 15-liter tank, so we have some extra spare when we dive deep. Normally we would only do one dive today, so we take one tank for each diver. A French couple joins us during this dive. Pascal leads the dive to a nice depth, not below 40 meters today. When we first reach 8 meters Timo notices his tank is not connected very well anymore. He signals Eef and she says everything is OK, but Pascal notices what's wrong and solves the issue and off we go! It is a very nice site again: Polemarka. Nets hang from the walls and sea squirts grow on the ropes: transparent or red ones. We see a lot of starfish and amphoras are spread on the sand. Pascal picks one up from time to time, looks at it and put it back on the right spot. Sometimes he discovers new ones, but usually he knows where to find them. There is one very big one, with a diameter of half a meter.

We should see many nudibranches here, because we see six or seven strings of eggs, but no nudibranches no: you can't be lucky all the time. Fireworms crawl over the sand looking for food. When you come too close with the camera, they erect their bristles and then you need to take distance, because it is poisonous and causes a burning sensation for a couple of days. All normal stuff here, but one special thing: a black round thing rolling over the sand and it looks like a couple of mating nudibranches: after all? We're not sure and show the picture to Pascal, but he does not know either. We stay deep a long time, until one of the French divers reaches 100 bar and then we dive shallower and return to the boat. Timo reaches 100 bar on the way back, but still notifies Pascal of it. Eef also reaches 100, but is not bothered telling anyone. She already saw Timo notified Pascal, so he was aware.

Eef and Timo stay down a bit longer than the others, because they already reached 50 by now. We don't see anything special anymore. The deco-stop is OK (7 min) and the safety stop afterwards too, so we can go to the surface safely. We put everything in the boat and Eef starts to shiver for ten minutes, although we're in the sun. Temperature is a nice 26 degrees; the water is 20 on the surface and 17 deeper. You can clearly feel the difference when going deep and the first cold comes at 10 meters and the second cold wave at 25. when you ascend again it is a lot warmer above 25 and at 5 meters it's nice to do the safety stop.

When we arrive at the harbor Pascal fixes the boat and we need to return here in about two hours and a half. Timo had tried to convince Pascal to have a second dive today. At first he did not want to, but the third time was the good try, especially because also the French joined: now for the same spot as last year: Aliotou, a beautiful wall with many nudibranches and when you're lucky even a seahorse. We eat soutzoukakia me patates and chorta at Mike's, have a frappe and a beer. Then it's already 13:00 and we need to wait for another hour and a half for departure. Eef hunts for stamps and makes a short walk and then Timo does that too towards the beach and the church over the harbor of Epidauros.

At 14:30 sharp we are gone: tanks on the boat, just full, twenty minutes on the boat to Aliotou. Just jumping off the boat Timo sees a scorpionfish, a small one. Then we look for the deep, see immediately the marvelous views of the nets hanging down, two or three amphora's, Timo sees a lobster and watches into the deep. If you're afraid of heights you could panic, because it goes down to below 100 meters. At a depth of 38 the slug festival starts. First two couples mating: yellow and blue, really beautiful and large ones. Then the dotted sea slug: Dalmatians. Pascal puts a starfish on his hand, we see some anthias in the small caves, really very nice fish.

A bit further and in the meantime also less deep we're already on our way back, because we spent a lot of time with the slugs. Eef and Timo took plenty of pictures and then suddenly they noticed that Pascal and the other two were already 20 meters higher, so we ascend slowly, not too fast. Pascal points out three more nudibranches: all three from a different size, from small to big, almost in a row. Timo also contributes and spots a very tiny nudibranch of less than a centimeter: really astonishing how he can see that (just plenty of luck). Everywhere on the wall we see strings of eggs, different colors and shapes, so also different species.

At a depth of eight meters Pascal sees another scorpionfish: they are really nice. With his knife he kills a few sea urchins and the fish race to the feast: wrasses, damselfish, and bream. Then we see another filefish that is the best ending of the dive, we think, but no there's more. The "more" is an octopus. Pascal takes it, exhausts it and we can take beautiful pictures. The ink floats through the water, because the animal is not really happy with Pascal's actions. Timo follows the octopus to take some more pictures, tries to lead it towards Eef, but that is not successful, so we go back to the boat. We're almost under it, so we go up, because both of us reached 50 bar and we were diving deep for over 50 minutes. That's very good.

Back to the harbor with the boat, clean everything, take a shower and then have a drink at Hotel Aristoteles, where Patrik and Linda are staying. A bit later also Pat and Ann arrive and we drink some ouzo. It's getting late, certainly for us ¨C a one-hour drive ¨C so at about 20:00 we leave Epidauros after a quick goodbye. We arrive back in Tolo just before dark, eat pita and drink Mythos. Timo walks to the beach again and enjoys the view of the well-lit island. Eef is still on the balcony so we drink our last Mythos and then go to bed after a great day in Greece with two great (especially the last one) dives. Goodnight.

 

Thursday May 27, 2010: Departure from Tolo, over Corinth to Piraeus

We're not able to sleep long today, because the light, the noise of the dust truck wake us up. Timo sits on the balcony and enjoys the rising of the sun. About an hour later Eef joins him and prepare our last breakfast with a sea view. This is our last day here in Greece, so we need to take advantage of this. We did not completely eat the bread, so Timo takes it to one of the piers at the beach and feeds the fish. They fancy it. A small octopus shows himself too, then hides against a rock, but he can't escape the good spotters-eyes of Timo. He calls Eef and she brings the camera and luckily it's still there.

While Timo is watching the fish, Eef starts to pack everything. When he returns to the room, it's almost done. We buy some cigarettes in a periptero, then Timo packs the bag pack with the photo equipment and then we're ready to leave. We stop to pay 120 Euro; it was only 30 per night, so not even that expensive. We don't forget to ask for the passport and it's only ten o'clock when we leave for Corinth. First the road to Nafplion. It's a lot calmer there now, but when we arrived it was a long weekend and Sunday, so it wasn't surprising. At the end of Sekeri Street in Tolo it was much calmer anyway and that was very nice. Via the old road Argos ¨C Corinth we drive north.

We don't take the highway to Corinth, but use the smaller roads: we have whole day to reach the airport. Via small villages Chiliomodi and Solomos we reach the highway. We don't drive on it, but under and next to it towards Ancient Corinth. An archeological site and museum are located here and we want to visit this one as the last one of the vacation. Through the village over small roads we find the site and the parking.

The entrance is six Euro per person, not that expensive, but we know this is usually the case in Greece. We notice immediately he fountain of Glauke and the Temple of Apollo that is ruling the rest of the site. Over the huge agora we walk to Lechaion Road. This used to be the ancient majestic road from the harbor or Corinth at the gulf to the agora. On one side there is the Greek and Roman market, because we see not only Ancient Greek (from the eighth century before Christ), but also the Romans have robbed and plundered and also built things in their stile during the age of Julius Caesar. Then we walk to the agora, but now the southern side, where we can see remains of a stoa. Important note for Corinth: The apostle Paul has contributed to the spreading of Christianity in his famous Letter to Corinth. There are three ranges of shops of which some remains are left: the central shops, northwestern and southern. Close to the museum there is also the Temple of Octavia.

The museum itself displays finds of the prehistoric settlement of Corinth, mainly weapons, jewelry and pottery. The finds of the neighborhood of Corinth are pottery, sculptures from different ages, mosaics, coins, ex-voto's from the sanctuary of Asclepeion and others. Striking are the remains of a grave with some tools and it was found completely intact. Outside of the site there is an odeon and a theatre, but there is not much to see; you can't see anything of the theatre. If you compare this to the Theatre of Epidauros, which we visited last year, this is worth nothing. There are more remains of the odeon, but not to say: this is great.

In the meantime it is already past lunchtime, so we can still leave and arrive on time at the airport and then go to Piraeus or Athens, depending on the public transport. The road leads us to he highway, we pay 2.90 Euro toll once and the second time 2.70. That's OK for about 100 kilometer, especially if you compare it to other countries. We need to return the car full of fuel, so we tank at 30 kilometer before we reach the airport and have a sandwich with tuna and chicken. At 14:00 we arrive at the airport, unload everything from the car and put everything in the suitcase and the bagpack and then return the car. We did not have any problems with the car, returned it in good condition, so it's OK. We go to the airport and need to pass by Hertz to ensure they don't charge additional fees, because everything was paid up front. Also there everything is OK.

Eef was waiting outside, then we check at what time the busses leave for the airport and from Piraeus to Elefterios Venizelos they ride all night. There is nothing to worry about. We take the bus to Piraeus and need to get up early tomorrow to arrive at the airport at about seven. The bus leaves at 15:20, so we wait about 15 minutes. It's very busy at the airport and also the bus is full of people. It takes about 1.5 hours to pass through the busy traffic between the airport and Piraeus. We have plenty of time, so are really relaxed. After our arrival in Piraeus we quickly find Hotel Elektra. We stayed here already in the past, so we'll see if there is a room available today for one night.

Yes, 50 Euro for one night. The price is still the same as the other times, already two years ago. We leave everything in the cases, but are thirsty, so we drink something at Filoksenia, our favorite place when we're in Piraeus. Three Mythos and one hour later we want to take the tram to Athens centre and drink something on Thissio-square.  That only takes 15 minutes and we get off at Monastiraki. We saw in the neighborhood a village with the same name and we have been thinking: how come we know the name? The day before yesterday Timo suddenly remembered. Otherwise we would have known today. We walk on Adrianou, the street that connects the two stops: Thissio and Monastiraki; look at the Acropolis and the temple of Hephaestus. Apparently the Acropolis has been finished restoring, which is quite nice. It should have stopped at one point after all those years.

At Thissio we drink Mythos, look at all the people passing by and notice that the square is no longer as it used to be. In this part of Athens depravation is also present recently. The police is patrolling and removes gypsies and negroes, who try to sell stuff here. We eat a pita here on the corner and also that is a tradition. Before the sun sets we return to Piraeus, drink another beer at Filoksenia and eat one pita for both of us: now one with a sausage, but normal pita is still better. Eef starts a search for Mythos, but there are no supermarkets, so we need to drink Amstel she bought from a periptero. We drink it in our room number 107. Tomorrow we can spend half a day traveling and then it's all over again.

 

Friday May 28, 2010: Departure home

The alarm of Eef's mobile wakes us up at five thirty in the morning. Actually we would have preferred to have breakfast at Filoksenia, but we need to take the bus at about 6, so we don't have enough time. We'll need to take something at the airport then. We have a shower, make sure we take all our stuff and don't leave anything and already wear warmer clothes to arrive in Belgium and for the walk to the bus stop. We buy two tickets at a counter and there is actually already someone, at this time, unbelievable. Eef is not yet awake and forgets her change. The Greek guy is so friendly to bring it to her, very friendly. The bus arrives 5 minutes late, but the journey does not take as long as yesterday: little less than an hour later we arrive at the airport: departures. At the check in we need to go to Olympic: they have about 30 counters for all destinations. The flight is on time, no ash cloud and no strike of the Greek airport authorities, so we can leave on time. That is a pity no?

We have a croissant and drink coffee, use the toilet and then pass on to the duty free. Buy some cigarettes, Metaxa, Greek oil and a small gift for Aagje. Then we walk to gate B03 for the flight to Brussels. At the check of the hand luggage they are pretty strict, they look at the laptop and also frisk almost everyone. We don't have anything to hide, so "ochi provlima". We wait for about half an hour and then can board with a delay for take-off of 30 minutes. It's pretty busy this morning, because we're in a row of 10 airplanes that are all waiting for departure. After the flight of three hours we arrive in Brussels and then we go home and usual routine can start. Hopefully we can keep the relax-feeling for a couple of days. Tomorrow we have the marriage of Kate and Sigi and back to work on Monday. Great!