Apr 2009

Instead of having breakfast in we bought croissants and take away coffee and took it to the harbour and sat watching the still sea and watching the people walk along the path by the harbor. Starting to get really in to watching people. One of the most noticeable things is the number of men carrying and ‘playing with’ worry beads – not the young but of the men over 40, most seem to have worry beads.

Had seen a very nice jacket and jewellry our first day in Nafplio, made a return visit and Jan indulged. Visited a wine shop found as very helpful person who filled us in on many questions we had about Greek wine. Bought 4 recommended bottles from him and a half a bottle of retsina for Jan to try! (Later that day / evening – have just tried the Retsina!! What can you say – we won’t be buying any more. Although you could say it complimented the sweet red we bought in a plastic bottle the other day. Still seems to be quite a bit left of it!)

Walked around the point to the beach and sat watching the local (older) men taking the air and sea water. Seemed to be much talking, a dip in the sea, more talking and sunbathing – a lot of activity but little action. Also saw a diver emerge with 2 fairly small octopus which he then preceded to bang on the concrete path repeatedly with some force. Is this the way octopus are tenderized?

Spent the morning at Mycenae, along with many other tourists. From 1600 – 1200 BC Mycenae was the most powerful kingdom in Greece. The Mycenaens were ‘the dudes’ in this period and Mycenae was THE biggest and the best. The city (palace and town) is pretty amazing – and BIG and situated on the top of a hill with amazing views over the countryside across to the mountains.

Homer wrote about Mycenae in the Iliad and it’s where they have dug up some of the famous gold ‘stuff’ including the gold death mask. It is also the palace where Agamemnon was probably murdered by his wife. You can see the grave areas where they found many of the ‘treasures’ and walk into some of the tholos (bee hive tombs). And, there was an underground cistern (water storage area) so the town never went without water – very sophisticated. And so many tourists – and this isn’t even high season. Dave counted 18 buses but there were more arriving. But if you move away from the main areas there are very few tourists – bus loads of people really do stick together. Seems to be lots of groups of school kids – must be the time for school camp type activities. And the small museum was good and informative – and pretty empty of tourists.

Rushed off to Tiryns which was on the road back to Nafplio. A bit disappointing really. The grass was so long that you could hardly see anything. In places the grass was up to my arm pits. Was pleased we had on long pants and had worn our boots. It was hard to know where you could go and many places were roped off – very frustrating as you could see handrails for stairs and paths that you couldn’t go on – and sometimes hard to get to cause of the grass. You couldn’t even walk around the outside. Dave remembered walking in the walls (which are seriously thick) and although we found one area where you could see the passage in the walls, there was no sign of where you could walk through any of it. Of course you may not be allowed to do this anymore but we weren’t the only ones trying to find the passages.

The ruins may have been a bit disappointing but we walked next to an orange orchard – these are everywhere - and the air was thick with the smell of orange blossom. The perfume of the orange (and lemon) blossom is everywhere – as you drive along or pass by a house you can smell it. When we walk into the courtyard of the pension where we are staying the perfume of the orange blossom is one of the first things you notice – but next to or in the orange groves, the air is thick with the smell – to the extent that it sometimes takes your breath away.

Visited ancient Epidavros theatre and the seaside village of Ancient Epidavros – the latter mainly for Dave to revisit old ground from 1977 that was rekindled by the previous day’s visit to the small but quite amazing Archaeological Museum in Nafplio where there was a display about excavations at Ancient Epidavros.

We drove quite easily out of Nafplio and were soon at the famous and well known site of Epidavros. Jan could hardly walk due to having walked down the 909+ steps the previous day, but battled on bravely. This Epidavros is mainly known for its theatre – seats about 14,000 people and is used still very summer for concerts. Dates from about C 3rd BC, and most tourists go to see it and not what it was really famous for, which is the similarly aged sanctuary of Asklepios, which was known over many years for its healing powers and in fact seemed to act in many ways like a hospital. There was also something to do with Apollo who had displaced the Mycenaean deity who also practiced there. And then there was the god of healing – Asklepios, which this whole thing seemed mainly to be about. Basically it seemed that they gave the sick a good feed, a pep talk and some special (probably clean) water and then you had a sleep and woke up OK. There was also some attempt at surgery in the later years – and on display they had some of the surgical instruments. Give me a good feed and a sleep any day.

We visited the theatre end first and were blessed with not too many tourists performing on the centre stage, where it reputed that all the audience can hear a coin drop – people dropped coins, sang solos, sang in groups etc. It was easy to hear them from up in the theatre – quite amazing for such a big open air space – and you could hear a coin drop. We spent a couple of hours then pottering around the large and expansive Asklepios site. They are restoring a few of the temples, but there was plenty else to look at, particularly more water systems and drainage, one of Jan’s passionate interests. It appears her real aim in life was to be a drainage/sewerage archaeologist. I have suggested she starts another travel blog about drainage systems in Greece. She has a good collection of photos to include.

Went on to Ancient Epidavros and found the area Dave remembered – but I think he should write about it. Ok, tis Dave talking now. Barb/Tig and I camped in Ancient Epidavros and on a walk in the evening came across a theatre that was partly excavated – but the more important olive trees were all left alive and intact, like pillars metres high amongst a few rows of what looked like very old seats in some ancient theatre. I have photos of the theatre (and the olive trees). From what I saw in the Nafplio museum it seemed likely that the theatre we saw back in 1977 was now part of much bigger excavations in Ancient Epidavros.

So after the big Epidavros, Jan and I pottered down to Ancient Epidavros to see if we could find it. We sure did – and the nearby camping ground under an orange grove where Tig and I had camped. Unfortunately the site was fenced off to tourists as there were still excavations being undertaken. The theatre part was fully excavated and easily visible, and then there were covers over some very extensive and complete Roman baths that were adjoining the theatre. There was a team of guys digging in a new trench nearby (well as is the habit, one of them was digging and the other 5 were talking/arguing/gesturing). After we’d had a look we wandered over to them and spoke to one of them – and he told us about the theatre and baths. He was very passionate about it all and asked where we were from – when he knew it was Australia the conversation moved to bushfires which sidetracked us from more talk about Ancient Epidavros. We wandered around some more and there were bits and pieces of evidence of old buildings everywhere. A fun and intimate site –a nice finish to the day.

Another day around Nafplio. Dave still not 100% but well enough to attempt the 999 steps to the other old Venetian fort. (And there were 909 to the ticket gate and many more after the gate – Jan counted – but on the way down.)
Huffed and puffed (along with coughing and wheezing) our way up the steps. The fort is an impressive structure dating from some time in the 1700s. There are walls within walls covering an enormous area and amazing views over both sides of the Aegean. Ended up spending a couple of hours wandering around. Coming down the 909 steps was just about worse than going up them.

Back to join the locals and the mainly Greek tourists to have coffee in one of the many places specializing in cakes, coffee and ice creams on the main square. The chairs and tables are organized so you sit looking at the passing people and what’s happening in the square. And lots happens in the square – children on skate boards, kicking balls, holding balloons that their parents have bought from one of the gypsies (is this the right word to use these days?), young and old promenading up and down the square. This is really the place to be. You are never hassled to pay and leave. If you buy something, I think you could sit all day.

Having coffee out is for special occasions cause a non-Greek coffee costs around E3 – E3.50 (double that for Aussie $s). Needless to say we generally make coffee where we are staying. Have tried the Greek coffee but really can’t get excited by it. Perhaps you are paying for the privilege of being able to sit for as long as you like?? Like in Paris.

A non-driving day to give Dave a rest. Spent the day wandering around Nafplion and up around one of the two land based fortresses (the other one’s on a little island in the bay - I’m sure it will feature in a photo at some stage). Dave’s now got the cold/flu that Jan’s had so not feeling great either.

First stop was the trendy waterfront along the old port – now overdone with bars/cafes (not even tavernas!). The water was perfectly flat, the sea amazingly clear blue with reflections of the boats. There were two guys on one small fishing boat who had recently moored and started to sharpen their knives to carve up some largish fish and sell it from the boat - from the colour of the flesh it looked like tuna but not sure if they have tuna in the Mediterranean? Maybe big mackerel?

Ate our breakfast on a seat overlooking the bay and the above mentioned small island fortress. A pretty cool breeze was blowing though, so we wandered off. Went into a few shops – and avoided one that had stunningly beautiful gold and silver jewellery - with stunningly priced price tags attached. After those prices we were a bit apprehensive about how expensive the good local crafts and stuff would cost, but Dave persuaded Jan to go into a shop with beautiful clothes and jewellery, where to our surprise the prices were reasonable for the quality. Jan has promised to revisit and try on some clothes and look at the jewelry too. Another good place was a weaver –some beautiful hand loomed scarves in cotton, silk and wool.

Took the lift up to the expensive hotel at the closer of the two fortresses (due to Dave’s health) and wandered around the top and then made our way down and around the point back to town for an afternoon stroll.

Back to our rooms for Dave to snooze and Jan to do some work now that we have internet access. So our travel blog we hope will be almost up to date as you read this. Found that Steph was up late working in Melbourne, so some “live” chats with her via email. Hope her shoot went well in Kinglake on Sunday. Had spaghetti cooked in our room for dinner – with some cheap red plonk - $4 a bottle stuff that comes in 1.5 litre plastic bottles.