Today was mostly about seeing the Parthenon and being on top of the Akropolis. In the morning, we visited the Roman Agora and the Museum of Greek Musical instruments before having lunch. After lunch, at 2pm it was our time slot to visit the Akropolis. After a last “farewell Athens” coffee, we drove 2 1/2 hours to our next campground in Delphi.
Today was a bit of an odd day as we didn’t have a plan. Well, we’d actually had a great plan but it fell apart last night. Our plan was to go to Diakopto and ride the train through a gorge as a surprise for Number 3. Last night, we learned that the train hasn’t operated since February. Anyhow, we decided to go there anyway and walk along the tracks. According to the Lonely Planet this is a thing people do even when the train is operating.
So we walked the tracks for a while, had lunch and turned back. From Diakopto, we drove towards Athens which we will visit tomorrow. On the way, Flo wanted to look at the Canal of Corinth, just as a human-made feature. It turned out to be quite cool plus, it had a great bakery right next to it.
We went further up the coast to the town of Nafplio. A stroll through the castle later, we had our best food yet at a recommended restaurant. After our food stop, we went to Epidaurus to look at the amphitheater. One last camp along the coast which we first thought was abandoned.
We took this Sunday for a city tour of Monemvasia. It’s a rebuild walled city which is also a popular spot for Greeks. Thus, it was rather crowded in the lower city (for our taste). The upper city is still in ruins and it was great fun to explore them. On our way out, we went up north through a great mountain pass and back to sealevel on the other side. Poor Number 3 was severly carsick on this stretch.
We started the day with a tour through Mystras, a former Byzantine capital. Again, we had too much food for lunch in a great little tavern, before driving done towards Mani. The Lonely Planet suggested a boat ride through a lime stone cave which we were keen to do. Due to high waters, we could only do a small tour with the boat (no pics) and walked out of the caves again. Flo took us on a little section of the Mani driving tour and then we were at the Campground right at the beach.
Today was mostly a riding day. We took the road south from Olympia through the mountains. On the way, we stopped at the Temple of Epicurean Apollo and then continued south to Mystras.
We chose to take our time for Ancient Olympia and stayed another night at the same campground. Both kids walked like champions and we rewarded them with ice cream, a dip in the pool and a feast at dinner time.
Today we moved further in our Greek adventures, down the coast to the small town of Parga. We decided to do our loop of Greece anti-clock-wise. From Parga we continue onto the only Iodian island that you can drive onto via a pier. We made it around to the south to Poros Beach. The campground there was closed but the owner allowed us to stay anyway…and for free on top of it all.
Finally in Greece!
