Apollon Hotel Sparta

... in the Alps of Normandy (excluding that one 18% grade in the Pyrenees), but I pushed today!<br><br>Rising 500m was nothing in comparison to some of these peaks (1800-2200), but that&#8217;s still ½ kilometer vertical. Some of these roads have a difficult pitch, but thankfully the roads are quieter now. It&#8217;s no wonder that these lands were traditionally traversed by foot and donkey - they are much ...

... they were thinking like me - it&#8217;s not really that bad). Seems as though &#8216;preventative maintenance&#8217; (as he likes to call it) is not that popular here. <br><br>Coming back in an hour, I had lovely mis-matched shifters. Of course! Only one was broken, so only one was fixed. A little for Brian and a little for me. But he did a great job on the main assembly, even replacing the main bearing (which Brian ...

... engine when required - but at the time I didn't understand this at all and felt the need to move the van downhill into some shade just in case while we explored a bit. We then forged uphill between the two fenced-off ancient enclosures, and then around and up some impressive old terracing towards the height of the hill. In the end we found two sections of shaped masonry - one looked more medieval than the other, which was chunkily and ...

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and drove up to Palamidi Castle up above Nafplion. You can also get to it by climbing 999 steps. This Venetian fortress is made up of several separate self contained bastions. We spent a good couple of hours here and didn't see all of it.<br><br>We then drove about 45 minutes to the archaeological site of Mycenae. We explored the site and ...

... to visit. Its remoteness, harshness, and dramatic natural beauty reminded us of rural areas of Scotland. It is not an area that most people would probably want to seek out for a visit, and we were the only Americans that we encountered during our time there. Most of the other tourists we met were Dutch, English, or German. In fact, most people assumed we were Canadian because they have so few American visitors to the area. <br><br> <br><br> <br><br>

POLSKI: Gdy przyjechalismy do Sparty, wyslalam sms Giorgios`owi z CS i znajwil sie po nas 20 min pozniej. Prysznice, kolacja (pyszne tzatziki - wyjadlam mu tego prawie cala miske!), a potem piwo w pubie. Giorgios okazal sie milym i sympatycznym mlodym rockman`em, z ktorym podzielam podobne zainteresowania muzyczne. Dzieki niemu moglismy sie ponownie wyspac w lozku. W ...

... the entire flotilla went in a fleet of three taxis to Monemvasia, the Greek Gibraltar. The lower town is all cute shops and sights, and then it is up a slippery steep staircase to the ruins of the upper town, the precipitously located Agia Sofia and the citadel 300m at the top. Then we made like proper holidaymakers and had lunch out! Back down to 'Mistral', one of PH's new Dufour yachts with a bathroom each (!) and her main feature, a solar panel ...

... was covered with canvas. The view was great. Not so great were the yellowjackets that were out in full force due to this being winemaking season. We traveled out to Mycenae an ancient site that dominated the Greek world from 1600-1200BC. It is also 1000 years older than the Acropolis in Athens. Most interesting here were the grave ...

Mykinai is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 6 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north. From the hill on which the palace was located one can see across the Argolid to the ...

... the ground and turn left at the bottom of the stairs. There's an entrance there, leading to a secret cistern. Climb down, carefully, because the stone is worn. You need a flashlight; even a little two AA one like mine will do. The stairs turn left, go down about twenty more stairs then turn right and follow the stairs down to the bottom. There's a draft of cool air and the walls are moist. Really, there's nothing to see at the bottom, but it's still very cool. I had planned ...