Hello Peloponnese
I really hate technology sometimes. I tried to post my blog and it disappeared. So here I try again.
We left lovely Athens and headed south to the peloponnese, it is a beautiful region with all the mountains and greenery, of which Athens has very little. We had a busy day today with multiple stops. It is nice because they are so close to each other so it means less time on the bus.
Our first stop was the Corinth canal. I've seen pictures before and it looks so pretty and serene. Not so much in real life. Don't get me wrong, it's very interesting and pretty but not nearly as nice as the postcards and such would have you believe. They do have pedestrian walkways for you walk along to take pictures and that is when the feat of building the canal becomes very apparent. You could miss the canal if you didn't know what you were looking for! It's pretty narrow. But no boats today to watch.
After that we headed farther south to Mycenae. The big attraction here is their unique burial methods and the fortification. We first saw the beehive tomb. Basically, they build a big hole in the side of a hill and then build a tomb in the shape of a beehive. They fill it with their family members over the years and then bury it.
We also visited the fortification. It was a bit of a climb to the top but worth it for the view of the countryside. It was breathtaking, you could see for miles of farmland and hills. They also had a few more burial sites to view, these were a little more traditional and it appears that there are still people out there excavating.
Our final big stop of the day was to Epidaurus. What an impressive site. Or tour director had us all climb up in the seats and then spoke from the stage. And you could hear every word no matter how quiet perfectly. I can only imagine how well a play would have been. I can't think of anywhere I've been that has had that good of acoustics. There was even a stray cat looking for some affection and you could hear him meow until someone wandered over to pet him. So strange.
There are a lot of stray animals in Greece. Especially in the tourist areas. I'd like to think that they are cared for because I can't see the tourists being too excited about them being mistreated. There seems to be more dogs around than cats.
Our final stop was at the harbor in Naplio, our home for the night. Because the hotel is 4 km away they gave us a quick stop to see the water and the fortresses built way up on the hills. The strangest part was the group of small children begging, one girl was even walking around barefoot, but I'm sure that was part of the image. There were 4 of them begging for change with their mother nearby watching with a 5th kid.
The hotel tonight is beautiful. The view here makes up for the last place. It is a courtyard filled with flowers and flowering trees. Very impressive.
The weirdest thing we learned as a tour group today is that our drivers girlfriend is following us. She wanders around all the stops when he doesn't have time to spend with her, or else when he does they spend time together in the parking lot. How romantic. I even saw her in the hotel tonight. She is really easy to notice too, so I'm curious if she will be following us the entire 1500 km journey. Shall keep you updated!
We left lovely Athens and headed south to the peloponnese, it is a beautiful region with all the mountains and greenery, of which Athens has very little. We had a busy day today with multiple stops. It is nice because they are so close to each other so it means less time on the bus.
Our first stop was the Corinth canal. I've seen pictures before and it looks so pretty and serene. Not so much in real life. Don't get me wrong, it's very interesting and pretty but not nearly as nice as the postcards and such would have you believe. They do have pedestrian walkways for you walk along to take pictures and that is when the feat of building the canal becomes very apparent. You could miss the canal if you didn't know what you were looking for! It's pretty narrow. But no boats today to watch.
After that we headed farther south to Mycenae. The big attraction here is their unique burial methods and the fortification. We first saw the beehive tomb. Basically, they build a big hole in the side of a hill and then build a tomb in the shape of a beehive. They fill it with their family members over the years and then bury it.
We also visited the fortification. It was a bit of a climb to the top but worth it for the view of the countryside. It was breathtaking, you could see for miles of farmland and hills. They also had a few more burial sites to view, these were a little more traditional and it appears that there are still people out there excavating.
Our final big stop of the day was to Epidaurus. What an impressive site. Or tour director had us all climb up in the seats and then spoke from the stage. And you could hear every word no matter how quiet perfectly. I can only imagine how well a play would have been. I can't think of anywhere I've been that has had that good of acoustics. There was even a stray cat looking for some affection and you could hear him meow until someone wandered over to pet him. So strange.
There are a lot of stray animals in Greece. Especially in the tourist areas. I'd like to think that they are cared for because I can't see the tourists being too excited about them being mistreated. There seems to be more dogs around than cats.
Our final stop was at the harbor in Naplio, our home for the night. Because the hotel is 4 km away they gave us a quick stop to see the water and the fortresses built way up on the hills. The strangest part was the group of small children begging, one girl was even walking around barefoot, but I'm sure that was part of the image. There were 4 of them begging for change with their mother nearby watching with a 5th kid.
The hotel tonight is beautiful. The view here makes up for the last place. It is a courtyard filled with flowers and flowering trees. Very impressive.
The weirdest thing we learned as a tour group today is that our drivers girlfriend is following us. She wanders around all the stops when he doesn't have time to spend with her, or else when he does they spend time together in the parking lot. How romantic. I even saw her in the hotel tonight. She is really easy to notice too, so I'm curious if she will be following us the entire 1500 km journey. Shall keep you updated!
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