Hotel Filoxenia Monemvasia

... up the buildings of the lower town (the area built along the bottom of the cliff) and renovating it. Today, the lower town is beautiful - and all of Monemvasia is pedestrian only (no cars) because the cobblestone streets are very narrow. Supplies are brought in from the causeway each day by donkeys. There are many little art galleries, craft shops, several boutique hotels, a couple of small café bars, and a few, very nice restaurants that we ...

... play a concert;)), so we were told to meet them at 4pm in order to continue the ride with them. Meanwhile we went for a swim. I read in my guide book that at the island where we went, there had started the romance of Helen and Paris, and at the same time - the Troyan War. We spent 3 hours there, smimming in clear like a crystal and azure water and resting in a shade of trees. And then it was time to move forward, towards Diros Caves...

My best friend during Elementary School was Nick Kastanias, whose family is proud of its Greek heritage. Nick's Dad (Mr. K) retired from his job in south Florida and moved back to Greece 11 years ago. He was nice enough to host and entertain me during my fantastic stay in Greece - which largely centered on his lovely hometown of ...

... dates back to the thirteenth century. We are in the Mani region situated in the middle promontory of the southern Peloponnese , physically different from the other two and dominated by the magnificent and daunting 'Taigetos' mountain range. The locals are called Maniots, a fierce people who resisted conversion to Christianity until the tenth century, when they embraced it with such fervour that they built churches everywhere. They also defied the ...

... for the post celebration lunch and we join them. We get a small plate each of various nibbles (plus chips - inevitable with any Greek meal), all quite tasty, and something to drink, before heading off into the Gorge itself. The gorge road is not heavily traveled, but intercity buses do use it - which is incredible given how narrow the road is as it passes through Leonidio and some other small villages - our rental only just makes it between the ...

... in a pension with a great view over the city. Lots of steps however to get there although we did use our car some to get up and down. Today we drove back to Athens and will return to Minneapolis tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing everybody and hopefully have some get-togethers on the deck. & nbsp; Bye for now, Dave and Nancy

... were sure to be infrequent, I was told. In some ways, it was a challenge, and despite my age, I'm still up for a challenge. Don't let the *******s get you down and all that. So, bright and early Monday morning, I boarded my first bus of the day in Nafplio and settled in for the ride over the mountains to Tripoli. I felt optimistic when I arrived before 10. But when I went to the ticket counter, I was brusquely informed that the Sparta bus departs from another ...

... up the streets to where building is going on. Several of us climbed to the church, Agia Sophia and then went on to the Citadel. From here we could look down across the small bridge to where our purple bus was parked. It really seemed like we were up high. Great view! Water for this city was collected in Cisterns. Even with all the climbing we did, we only walked about five miles. This evening we all ate together at Pierros's restaurant. He is formerly ...

... at rowing an inflatable dinghy! Must take some lessons from the celebrity who was on my transfer last week!<br><br>Three more high season weeks left, Andy and I are teaching the improver group together next week which should be fun, and then I have a week as 'beach assistant' where I intend to do lots of tweaks, tinkers and improvements. As always we love to get letters and e-mails so keep in touch, and lots of love

It is September, and we have decided to visit MANI this time. Our first stop is at GYTHIO, where we have lunch. Gythio is a beautiful port and so our lunch includes my favorite dish which is KALAMARI, sea shells, mussles, and of course my favorite starter OUZO.