Hotel Maniatis Sparta

... suited than bicycle. But still there are lots of friendly waves and honks of the horn from the few people we see. <br><br> As with any climb, the ascent is hard, but the views are amazing and the descent is sweet. Long, long coasts back down to sea-level again. The bike worked just wonderfully on these sections! Cool breeze in my hair makes me forget about the pain of the climb so I&#8217;m ready to do it again.

... still have problems it&#8217;s not my fault. <br><br> Of course, he wanted to change my whole gear assembly. By the time he turned around to tell someone, my bike was gone! Already in the back and having the grip shift worked on. I loved how these guys were right to the point and eager to work. It took some convincing, but Brian finally talked them into changing all the cogs and cranks on my bike as well (secretly I ...

... out to the ocean for hours. <br><br>Through the course of the week with Thea Kristina we have gone to the beach a few times, out for drinks and the clubs a few times, to the outdoor bazaar (panagiri) both during the day and another time at night, I have seen and experienced Tripoli and have grown to love spending time here. <br><br>For a few days, my Theo Steve and Thea Sofia picked me up to take me to Sparta ...

... Returning to the town centre we decided to follow actual directions this time. Once safely out of the town, it proved to be a great trek up to Lykosoura - firstly under the shadows of the twin Ferrybridges of the central Peloponnese (our local power station is Ferrybridge in Yorkshire). These are undoubtedly more picturesque from a distance, but still rather grimly fascinating. Then we made out way slowly uphill through rich green 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>

... 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 ...

... a campground and got myself a little cabin for 25 euros (after negotiating down from 40, he said he liked Americans so he would lower the price...). Anyways, I then hitchhiked back to Sparta and grabbed some dinner. Gotta love Gyros! Nothing like a watching them shave a column of meat (seriously, its a big stick of meat about 1 foot in diameter and 2 or 3 feet tall!).

... point is, I can't have it both ways. Also, since leaving Ios, my body clock has done a total 180. For the last week or so, I've been waking up at around 8 and been in bed by 12 or 1. In Ios, I was going to bed, potentially at 8, and heading out, fresh from a siesta, at 12 or 1. The detox effort has also been in fine form. But don't worry, Berlin and Prague come in a few days and the effort will be finished. Anyways, on to the recent adventures. My time on the Greek mainland ...

... is that not all bus stations have signs in English. Well, after two weeks I can read Greek well enough to pick out names of town or regions pretty fast, so it's not too much trouble. We got here early so we decided to hit Mystras this afternoon. After finding out there were no buses before 4, we hired a cab to take us to Nea Mystras, the village at the foot of the mountain. Then we climbed. And we climbed. When we'd come all the way back down, I couldn't believe we actually ...