Alkyon Corinth

... bus. Nafplio<br><br>Around noon, we got back on the bus and headed to Epidarus, which is one of the main theaters they used in ancient Greece. Its the one that everyone says if you stand in the center and drop a coin, you can hear it at the very top (or in the last row)--and its TRUE! They still use the theater for summer festivals and performances, and we got to see an amateur ...

... on. I rented a scooter and guess what? That scooter was the COOLEST THING EVER!!! I had some much fun on that thing. It was so dam fast too and was really easy to drive. Those things have more get up and go power than most cars it's freaking crazy. So I pretty much just cruised around the island snapping pics and getting really lost. The island was a pretty decent size ...

Apparently, Nero took the first ceremonial spade full of dirt out and then ...

Athens to Nafplio:<br>Wherever you are in Athens, get to Omonia (your best bet is to use the metro). Once at Omonia we had to ask a bunch of people where bus 051 was. Once we found bus 051, paid our 0.50 Euros, we got on and it took us 20 minutes to get to the big bus terminal- which is called Terminal A (there is also a Terminal B bus station but that is for buses that go to other places). Our bus to Nafplio left at 5:30pm and 2 hours ...

... who would later become emperor himself, sent 6000 Jewish slaves to dig the canal. When the slaves began to cut the rock, it was said that "blood ran out," presaging the downfall of Nero. This can be explained, however by water seeping from the rock, heavily stained with iron deposits. This first attempt at cutting a canal into the Isthmus of Corinth was abandoned after Nero's death, and only completed hundreds of years later ...

... must have been quite a sight. That night we passed under the biggest bridge in Europe, almost colliding with a yacht. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be on that little yacht as we hurtled towards it horns blaring! After that excitement we settled back down to sipping cocktails on deck watching the lights twinkle on mainland Greece. Bliss.

... in pounds and Greece gets more expensive by the year) but with a bit of local research anything is possible.<br><br>That said, we have spent some time playing with the beach toys; following the earlier inaugural blast in the RS800 it was back to our very favourite boat, the single trapeze Laser 4000, and a happy hour or so screaming around on Saturday afternoon. Sunday was quite windy and gusty, and with the guests also out in the bay a non-trapeze boat seemed ...

... to make some sort of interesting sound. All I could think of was to recite a line of Homer (badly) and when I realized I'd forgotten the second line, I switched and sang the Canadian National Anthem. Hey, I was working with limited material here! We also enjoyed seeing the medical instruments, including ancient forceps! Most of the healing on the site, however, didn't occur through anything we would recognize as medical practice but by a special ritual ...

... is almost done! Something to look forward to next visit. Meanwhile, if you take a look at the miscellaneous marble pieces stored only in a wire fence on the street in front of the museum, you will find several examples of some objects that look for all the world like bath tubs. I found myself all but unable to consider the possibility that they're something else, but if they are, someone please tell me! After a very light and quick lunch, we bought some fruit and sunscreen and headed ...

... Athens. I was thrilled! We really wanted to go all along and now it seemed possible...assuming hotels were no longer EUR 500 a night. I spoke to my Australian friend Tom the next day in the office. His family is Greek and he still has tons of family in Athens. He has obviously been to Athens a ton and was familiar with the city. He gave me some pointers on areas of town that might be a little outside of the center and therefore cheaper, but still accessible to the Olympic venues ...