Wow, what an eventful day. We awoke, had a great breakfast at our Hotel Petite Planete then on to the ruin of the VERY ancient city of Mycenae.
This place is pre-stone age fortress notable for its later rise to local prominence in the Bronze Age under King Agamemnon and his role in the Trojan war in far-off Asia Minor (now called Turkey).
After Mycenae we headed to Athens to scout out cruising possibilities in the Greek Isles. After a bit of seat-of-the-pants driving into Pireaus (Athens adjacent port and local squalorous nether-region) we discovered that the cruises we were after all sailed on mondays and fridays, no dice. Pireaus is not a pleasant place, and all my history reading indicates that is never had been such, ‘nuff said.
After a convoluted drive through the heart of Athens (not too bad compared with Milan and Florence) we made out way back out into the country-side of the Peloponnese, lovely, quiet, rural and very hospitable.
We wound up in Corinth (of New Testament fame) picking through the impressive ruins and having a nice dinner at the Taverna Marinos waited upon by Marinos himself maker of excellent barrel/jug/house wine, owner of the Marinos vineyard and keeper of the secret recipes of incomparable Moussaka & Keftedes. My favorite Greek food yet.
~S
This was a very stressful day for me and Stanley was put to the test because of it. He’s a trooper, even when I am not, and I love him for his ability to know the right thing to do.
The day started beautifully. We woke and ate the most lovely breakfast yet in our super duper Mycenae hotel. Afterward we made our way to the Mycenae ruins, the home of King Agamemnon... ruins that are 3000+ years old. It was a very cool place and we spent most of the morning exploring this magical place.
We get in the car and make our way into Athens with hope of parking in Piraeus and finding a 3-4 day cruise around the islands at one of the many travel agencies along the strip. Driving into the Athens/Piraeus area instantly set me into a crappy mood - not because the driving was scary, but because the city is dirty and crowded and busy and noisy and it’s difficult to know where you are or where you’re going because we cant read the language. This proved to be most difficult in Athens. We find a garage to park in and head out onto the strip to find an agent. We find one and they tell us that the 3-4 day cruises leave first thing Monday and Friday mornings. Those are the ONLY days... so sad, too bad, so sorry. No luck for us - we WILL NOT be taking a cruise around the islands... at least not in conventional “cruising” fashion. Options are to take ferries over, stay the night on the island, and then come back... day ferries they’re called. I’m in a bad mood, and this option seems expensive and not as much fun. So we opt to not, and instead head out in search of an information booth. In Italy, these were everywhere. In Greece, not a single one to be found. We walk many blocks looking for either an internet cafe or a tourist booth, no luck finding either. By this time I just want to go back to the car and cry. Stanley senses this from me and opts to turn around even though he’s in gear to go search the city. Sorry Stanley.
Back to the car, we head through Piraeus toward Athens. We make it to the “circle around the city” which is a road that goes completely around the center of the city. We decide to try and find parking and make our way to the Acropolis, only we cant find any. Tears are welling up... hopes are sinking lower. So, out of Athens we head and decide to just go back to Corinth, a town we passed through on our way into Athens. Plan... go to Corinth, find a place to stay, find an internet cafe, and regroup. Goodbye Athens... my first impression of you was not pleasant. I hope our next attempt goes better.
Into Corinth... we see a sign for “Ancient Ruins” so we head that way. Up on the hill is a very cool “Ancient Corinth” town and right in the center is a very cool old ruin of the ancient town from long ago. We explore for about an hour and then make our way into the little town center for some dinner. This place was delightful and the food was super yummy. No rooms to be found here, so we drive back into the “new” part of Corinth and locate a hotel on the main strip - the only hotel this town seems to have. It is nice, with two twin beds that dont slide together, so Stanley and I are sleeping “Leave It To Beaver” style tonight!
Tomorrow - explore Epidaurus and Nafplio and anything else on the way while we wait for the laundry service down the street from the hotel to do our laundry... it will be a whole day before they’ll have it done. There are NO laundry mats to be found in Greece - they just simply DO NOT have them. Dry cleaning and laundry service is the next best thing and they typically take your clothes, wash them for you and you can pick them up a day or two later. Stanley was awesome and managed to get them to do our laundry in one day for pickup at the end of the day, so we’ll be staying here in Corinth one more night.
Hopefully tomorrow will be much better... ~M
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