Pelopennese, Greece26 Oct 2009
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Our ferry from Corfu
The flags of Canada, Greece and the Olympics
Dancing priestesses
The Peloponesse is a peninsula barely attached to mainland Europe. Home to ancient civilizations, it's rugged and yet serene, a glimpse of traditional Greece. Our plans were to visit Olympia, birthplace of the Olympics, Monemvasia in far southern Peloponnese and Nafplio, a pretty town on the east coast.
After our overnight ferry ride from Corfu, getting to Olympia was relatively straightforward and, by sheer coincidence, the ceremony for the start of the Olymic torch relay for the Vancouver Winter Olymics was taking place the day we arrived. After the usual speeches by bureaucrats, a bevy of dancing "priestesses" accompanied "Athena" carrying the torch into the original Olympic stadium. She then passed the flame to the first of over 12,000 runners who will deliver the torch for the Feb, 12, 2010 opening ceremony. After all that pomp and circumstance, we spent the rest of the day visiting the immense Olympic site and the impressive Archeological Museum.
We found the bus system more disorganised than the ferries: information is even more scarce and often incorrect. The various bus companies (all part of the government owned "network", as best we can tell) don't talk to each other and helping passengers is not part of the job description. So when we set off from Olympia for Monemvasia little did we know that it was nearly impossible to do in one day. Only after five hours on two different buses did we discover this. So with the "help" of the bus station staff, we formulated another plan: head north to Tripoli so we could then go to Nafplio.
However (you knew there was going to be a "however"), when we arrived we were told that there were no more buses that day and the last train had left half-hour before. Glancing around Tripoli, we opted for a quick, painless but expensive ride to Nafplio, provided by a taxi driver who lurks by the bus station to "rescue" travelers just like us. A couple of hours later, we were settled into our studio room in a pension in old town Nafplio eating a lovely dinner Terry had made after our quick trip to the local supermarket.
During the night we were awakened by thunder and rain and we rose to a gloomy but dry-ish Saturday morning. We took advantage of our extra day in town to get our large pile of dirty clothes washed, and to roam the weekly farmer's market buying veggies, olives and wine. As we were shopping, the skies opened, and the rain continued off and on all day.
And yet again on Sunday, the rains came, so we got drenched on our brief walk to visit the sights in this lovely little city. But we used the time to good advantage...to finalize our plans for Egypt, and to get the web site completely updated.
