“I am not particularly interested in
― Eduardo Galeano
saving time; I prefer to enjoy it.”
Go-Day 15 to 22, February 6, 2019 to February 13
Lessons Learned: Pack your hiking boots (or shoes). They are comfortable, protect your feet, and you can walk in them all day long. You can wear them with shorts or long pants, and they look better at dinner than wearing tennis shoes (or running shoes). We’ve been averaging around 10,000 steps a day here, most of them up and down and over rough terrain. You need good tread. Avoid leather soles. Once in Scotland, I was barred from entering a pub because I was wearing trainers (running shoes). No problem with hiking shoes. I prefer low top. Wear them on the plane, because they are heavy and take up a lot of room in your bag. Trust me, your feet will thank you.
This is the day we departed Meteora and the days became a blurrrrrrrrr.
Wed, Feb. 6 we drove towards the Peloponnese Peninsula. Not all the way. We didn’t want to grind it out all the way to Nafplion, so we stopped out in the country in a little town named Arta. The major attraction in this town was the medieval bridge. There’s an interesting story around it, not to mention the sleepy little cafés where we had a great meal of lamb and squid. I don’t think its legal to serve bad food in this country.
The best thing about Arta, though was Hotel Marathia. This place is a few kilometers out of town and we were very surprised to find the rooms impeccable, the construction details perfect (marble tiles matched ceramic tiles exactly), service was immediate and the food in the café affordable and excellent (all prepared by Moma). We spent a long time talking with the owners (Moma’s son was the only person who spoke English), and we were the only Americans in the hotel. It was almost empty, and they were very happy we came. They were also amazed we found them.
Nafplion
We booked an Air BNB for three weeks in a small town just outside of Nafplion in the small town of Aria. There was not much to the town, but it’s a great place to stage yourself for day trips. It was a rough start in that there was no house address on the building, so we were trying to get into the wrong apartment. Without shooting us, the neighbor told us to go away and that the rental was the next building over. Once we located the apartment the key didn’t work and the owner had to get the neighbor to let us in (she had problems with the key as well). Once in, however, it was great. Lots of room, comfy beds, nice TV, adequate kitchen, lots of flat surface to put our stuff, two bedrooms, and a washing machine. You really appreciate washing machines on the road.
If you like citrus fruit, the Peloponnese is for you. There are oranges and lemons everywhere. Literally. Everyone has a dozen trees in their yard and every square foot of the countryside either has an orange tree or olive tree planted on it. I think they plant lemon trees for the color contrast. Harvest time is now, January and February. We are always dodging trucks loaded with fruit on the roads.
Once settled, we plotted out our sight-seeing itinerary for the next few days, including four UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Palamidi Fortress
Fri, Feb 8. Perched up on the hill over Nafplion are the remains of an old fort. Cool, this was our first stop in town. Its walls snaked all over the 700 feet high hill, and was built by the Venetians between 1711 until 1714. As soon as they finished it, it was captured by the Turks in 1715 and they kept it until 1822, which really pissed off the locals. We don’t have anything unique to gripe about today, as I’m sure the Venetians were really upset on how much they spent on this impregnable castle only to lose it even before they began to depreciate the capital costs.
Tiryns (UNESCO site)
Sat, Feb 9. Tiryns was a major Mycenaean citadel around 1400 to 1200 BCE (that is 3,400 years, which is pretty damn amazing), its located in Argolis, literally around the corner from our apartment in Aria (4 kms, if that far). It’s only 1.5km from the port, so back then it controlled the trade routes between the mainland and the Aegean cities.
The area was inhabited before the Bronze age (over 5,000 years ago), and ancient Greeks believed that the citadel was built by Proitos, brother of the king of Argos, Akrisios, and grandfather of Perseus (can you think Clash of the Titans?), the founder of Mycenae. Up close, the stones in the walls of this fortress were about as large as a Ford F150. They were huge. So large, in fact that the legend goes that they were built by cyclopes (yes, the big dudes with only one eye). The funny thing is, they give the history of these archeological sites as if they really were built by cyclopes or that Perseus did fight the Titans (or that cyclopes and Titans did exist).
Mycenae (UNESCO site)
Sat, Feb 9. This is an Mycenaean archaeological site near Mykines about 15 miles from our apartment. It sits high on a hill rising up about 900 feet (275 meters) above the sea level giving it a commanding view of the beautiful olive grove-filled valley. To generate some contemporary significance for this fort, let me tell you a historically wonky story.
Way back in the 1600 BCE time, it was one of the major centers of Greek civilization, and a military stronghold. This place was supposedly founded by that Titan-killer Perseus (where did he find the time?) though the date is not quite certain.
From this point the story gets really interesting and most people know part of it, though they normally would never connect all the dots. After Perseus and all his family were wiped out in the various wars that were always going back and forth back then, the legend has it that a future ruler of Mycenae Atreus had two sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus (12th century BCE) who would inherit Mycenae, but not without a tussle that was required in antiquity.
Next country over, King Tyndareus of Sparta had two daughters, Helen (does that name sound familiar?) and Clytemnestra, whom Menelaus and Agamemnon married, respectively. Agamemnon inherited Mycenae and Menelaus became king of Sparta. Soon, Helen eloped with Paris of Troy. And all the fun begins.
Agamemnon hired Brad Pitt to be Achilles and then conducted a 10-year war against Troy to get that little hottie Helen back for his brother Menelaus. To complicate things, Agamemnon pissed off the goddess Artemis who caused a lack of wind over the kingdom, which kept the Greek warships from sailing to Troy causing Brad to threaten voiding his contract due to scheduling conflicts.
In order to please the gods, Agamemnon (Augie) sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia which really ticked off Clytemnestra ,
Augie’s wife. Artemis, having been satisfied by such a sacrifice, made the winds blow and the Greek fleet departed, thus preventing Brad from walking out on the war.
But, all good things must pass and after a decade and a horsey good time was had by all the Greeks in Troy except Achilles, who died of a stone bruising arrow thanks to Paris and Helen. Helen was sent back to Menelaus, and Augie returns to Mycenae for a red-carpet parade. Soon after, Augie is slain by the still angry Clytemnestra and her boyfriend Aegistheus, which put the fort back on the market by Redfin. Or, at least that’s what I heard. Now who said that reading this blog wasn’t educational?