Pension Areti Hydra

Hi everybody,

As you all know, we are back in the states! I haven't had time to finish writing the last three blog entries but I will as soon as I am able. I just wanted to let you guys know so you can check back over the next few days.

I hope everyone is excited to read about Athens because that was our last city and it was epic. Check back soon!

-Michelle

One of our day trips from Nafplio was to Epidavros. This is a small town that is home to the world's best-preserved ancient Greek theater and an ancient healing sanctuary.

The theater was built in the 4th century B.C. and has 56 rows of limestone seats that can seat up to 15,000 people. It’s especially famous for its amazing acoustics. You can stand on a small, circular piece of stone in ...

... extended beyond the natural lay of the land, has there been repairs made. Looking at some of the chipped, yet worn rock seats I was amazed at how they’ve stood the test of time and wondered who may have occupied them over the last 2200 years.

The size and scale of this thing were truly amazing to behold. Even with my widest angle on my camera, I couldn’t get it all in ...

... to avoid the coach ride, and so someone needs to go along to supervise. The adventure begins with the 2.5 hour boat trip from PH to Piraeus - we get a quick look at Hydra and then it is full speed ahead up the Saronic Gulf to the ancient port city, now a rather nondescript part of Athens. Things improve rapidly on the bus ride in, however, and it isn't long before I get to do my favourite dramatic reveal over the microphone as the Parthenon peeks ...

... seconds to let us off. And that was the season over in a blink!

This year's layup startled us with the number of staff involved, and as a result we were effectively done in a week with it all looking beautiful. The weather was lovely; sun and a bit of a breeze, except as always happens on our two days off, where the kit left out languished in cloud and absolutely no wind! Oh well... Then it was a civilised evening flight back to the UK.

As we have a ...

... you MUST use the taxi service of Famous George) rearranged his schedule to first take Dutch, Chaplain, and me home, and he turned around and went back to the port to pick up Nurse Cubby and Chaplain, who had stayed behind to meet the later boat. A lot of drama for a little orange shopping bag, but it more than renewed our faith in the kind hospitality of Greece, and some lucky grandkid of Gramma's is going to get the Greek spider encased in lucite that was in that bag.

... rather pointlessly because they sat on a different table and we didn't talk to them at all. They had a noticeably larger age variation, and seemed to subconsciously order themselves into age brackets, with the 20 somethings one end and the 60 somethings the other. This only made me realise how lucky I was to have a group that clicked so well and would definitely provide some excellent friendships when the party was all over. There was a strip along the beach of cheap ...

We set off at 8:30 am to go to the Acropolis. It has been years since Jim and I have been there and the first time for Paul. Barbara didn't make it she was sleeping off her jet lag. They are doing extensive renovation work on many of the columns and also the entrance arch ...

I got up to turn on the hot water at 5:30 a.m. Instead of the early morning quiet that I'd enjoyed the past few days, I heard (and felt) a sharp wind blowing down the hills, through the town, and out to the sea. It wasn’t raining, but the wind was clear evidence that a storm had been through the area. It had churned up the water enough that I could hear the boats in the harbor slapping up against their docks.

The plan for the day was to catch the boat back to Pireaus ...

... to operate the hot water. I was embarrassed, but grateful.

We stopped by the grocery store and bought some water. We then began making our way up the hill. It was much steeper than we had thought. But, we just went slow because we had all day. Eventually, the dense concentration of houses began to thin. We found ourselves on a paved road lined with pine trees. We continued on to the end of the road and found a church complex. We first thought it was the monastery, but there was ...