Aegean, Epidaurus, Nafplion and Olympia

Tuesday, April 17: Boating the Aegean

Left by boat for our cruise to a couple of the Argo-Saronic islands, Hydra and Spetses. Unfortunately the weather was cool and overcast, but the Aegean was still an amazing display of color, rather like various shades of polished gun-metal.

We went to Hydra first, where the principal means of transportation are donkeys and ponies. Had a very Greek lunch, wandered around looking at all the shops selling stuff to tourists, visited a little art gallery showing the work of local artists, then boarded the boat for Spetses.

Spetses had nothing of any particular interest except almond cookies, although it is a major summer destination for the Greeks themselves, especially rather wealthy Greeks. We sat at a taverna on the harbor drinking coffee and talking, which was pleasant enough. Then we boarded the boat and returned to the hotel for dinner.

Wednesday, April 18: Epidaurus and Nafplion

Took the bus to Epidaurus, first stop the museum, which contains the best finds from the healing center, which was a temple to Asklepios, and also finds from the temple of Artemis.

We then went to the theatre at Epidaurus, which is the best preserved of all the ancient theatres and is still used for performances of classical drama and also music. The theatre has perfect acoustics. I decided not to hike up the 114 steps to the top of the amphitheatre to verify this fact. Kevin did climb it, but I was willing to take Sophia's word about the acoustics.

We then drove back to Nafplion to go to the Worry Bead store and museum. I got engrossed in picking out a set of worry beads for myself and forgot to check out the museum part. We then took the bus up to the top of the hill overlooking the city to visit the Venetian fort. Had a great view of the Argolic Gulf, but was very windy and a couple of us managed to get lost. With the aid of the ticket guy and a friend of his we eventually found our group before they left, and then took the bus back to Tolo. There we had our lunch, and some time to relax and get caught up on journals, sleep, laundry, and what not.

Thursday, April 19: Olympia

Said farewell to Tolo and set off for Olympia. Olympia was both beautiful and peaceful and I was quite in love with the place. We visited the museum, which is very nice with everything beautifully displayed, and the archeological site. The prize pieces at the museum are a winged Nike and Hermes with the infant Dionysos.

The Judas trees were in bloom and made a spectacular backdrop for the ruins. At one point I photographed Ed as near as we could get to him standing-in for Zeus at the temple there. The original cult statue of Zeus was made of gold and ivory, but went missing after it was hauled off to Constantinople, where it went up in flames when the city was sacked and burned.

We strolled into the original Olympic stadium. I was surprised by how big it is, about twice the size of a regular football field. None of our group was up for any mock athletic event, so we just lazed around and soaked up the peacefulness of the place. Everyone really enjoyed Olympia, and I think would have voted for one day less in Tolo and one day more at Olympia.

The hotel was brand new and very nice. I opted out of dinner in town, with Greek dancing (having already done that thing on Crete), and went to sleep about 7PM, woke around 10PM, ate my last Cretan orange and a chocolate cookie, and went back to sleep.