Grecotel Olympia Riviera Peloponnese

... who walked there before me. It’s so hard to describe the emotional feeling you get when you get to physically be somewhere like this.

Seeing Mycenae was crucial to our time in Greece. It helped us better understand the things we’d been seeing in other places, up until that point. And as you will read in the Athens blog entry, it really let our minds and experiences come full circle with understanding ancient Greece and our world’s history.

Nafplio (or Naplion, Nafplion, etc- it's spelled many different ways) is a cute town in the Peloponnese. It was the original capital of Greece, before it became Athens. It’s a port town on the water, with its top sights being the three fortresses within the Old Town area. For a former capital, it’s much smaller-feeling than you’d expect. You can walk around the Old Town in just a few minutes. It’s a really cute town ...

... rocks. High indeed. With each rest break it was incredible to see the city and hillside around revealing itself. Inside, there were several separate Bastions belonging to different people. Each unique in it’s own way, and joined by more stairs. Our goal was UP. So we kept climbing until we found the topmost bastion with unobstructed 360 degree views.

This is the type of castle that didn’t need to worry about fortification. Just ...

... 3 of us on the bus, so space wasn’t an issue. Our ticket would get us to north to Tripoli, and from there we would catch another bus east to Naphilo. Little did we know that the ride to Tripoli would requite changing busses 3 times before arrival.

When we finally did arrive, it was to be dumped off on the side of the road into a wild her of taxi drivers ready to strike. Without the main bus station, I bounced ...

... I got a room with 4 beds completely to myself for 11 euros a night - not a bad deal! On Friday morning, I took the first bus out to ancient Mycanae, king Agamemnon's citadel (the leader of the Trojan War). Similarly to Delphi, this ancient city is tucked away in the mountains, making it a very peaceful place to spend the day (despite the few groups of tourists, which I could luckily avoid with ease). I was glad to find good explanations on the site ...

... and we don't go up there - we're getting lazy!, but the ruins we do see are impressive - enormous rock fortifications and great views over the surrounding countryside. And we get to see the first views of the damage from this summer's fires - there was obviously one that came very close to this mountain and destroyed many acres of trees and vineyards. We take the back roads through to the site of Ancient Mycenae. The Myceaneans were one of the first recognisable ...

... Holly would pick up little items along the way for some retail th**apy, but most of it got shipped home from Turkey. A first initial of 'H' indicates something that only Holly brought. A first initial of 'S' indicates a common item that we both used, but that Seth carried in his panni**s. Clothes (what we each brought): 2 pairs shorts/j**seys 1 long pair of cycling tights 1 pair arm & leg warm**s Und**wear: Holly 3 ...

Today, we took a trip to the Corinth Canal and the Epidaurus.






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See, we managed to capture the canal with boat!









Mycenae, Peloponnese, Greece songwillie

... The canal is 6.3 km in length and was built between 1881 and 1893. It was planned by the Hungarian architects István Türr and Béla Gerster, who had also been involved with early surveys for the Panama Canal. Its construction was started by a French company, which ceased works only after the two ends had been dug, due to financial difficulties. A Greek company took over, the main contractor being Antonis Matsas ...

... remember to give thanks to the gods for their recoveries. There was also a very fancy hotel there for people who were very wealthy and either coming for the competitions or for healing. After seeing the ruins, we were able to walk on a forest path up to the theater. Walking in the forest was great- the smell of pine and being in the mountains made me feel like I was at home again. The theater was my favorite thing in Epidarus. It is the best ...