For the first part of our Greek holiday, see here.
Day 4 - continued
After much waiting around, we acquired a hire car and set off for the second part of our holiday. I am so glad that Graham can get into a strange car in a foreign country and drive away with no problems. I would be a nervous wreck. Even Graham was a little spooked by the Athens traffic - very narrow lanes crowded with cars and buses, and mopeds zipping in and out of every available gap.
I had left Google Maps set to "avoid tolls", which meant that we stayed off the fancy new highway and took the old road towards Corinth instead. There was practically no traffic, so although it was slower, it felt very relaxed. We passed hills, hotels and oil refineries. Along the way, we stopped at a supermarket for supplies and drank Green Cola at the beach over the road.
Crossing the Corinth Canal at Isthmia, we started heading south through the mountains of the Peloponnese. The sky had been growing darker and darker, and soon rain was lashing against the windscreen. We were glad to be in a car!
Our next accommodation, Villa Irini, was up a very steep hill just outside Archaia (old) Epidaurus. Our under-powered hire car barely made it up! The house had gorgeous views across the Saronic Gulf back towards Athens, and a nice patio area with a pool. Sadly it was still raining so we couldn't make the most of it immediately.
Day 5
The next day, however, was perfect weather for a kayaking trip. What a good thing we had organised one! A company called Tribal Kayak ran tours from Yialasi Beach, ten minutes' walk from our villa. We paddled across to the Little Theatre of Epidaurus (there's a large one, too, but that would be tomorrow's discovery).
Returning to the boats, our next stop was the Sunken City. It's actually a Roman building, possibly an olive-processing plant or a winery, which is now under 1.5m of water. Graham and Toby took snorkels and had a great time looking around. I stuck to wearing goggles and holding my breath for short intervals. Theo stayed on shore and practiced skimming stones.
We had a home-cooked lunch of stuffed tomatoes and peppers, with lots of olive oil. Delicious. After that it was a short paddle back to where we started.
Day 6
A twenty-minute drive from where we were staying was the other Theatre of Epidaurus - the big one. It really is huge: built in the 4th century BC, it has a capacity of about 14 000 people. That's ten times bigger than the one we saw on the kayak trip. Both the view and the acoustics are amazing.
The theatre is part of a complex which, we gathered, was kind of an ancient hospital. The site was dedicated to Asclepius, the god of medicine. Making offerings to the god, bathing, watching dramatic performances, and simply being in the fresh air of the mountains were all thought to help with healing. There were extensive ruins of various temples, a stadion (running track), bath houses, and a small museum.
Two people had told us we really must go to the port town of Nafplio. We decided to follow their recommendation, so we continued across the peninsula from the theatre until we reached the opposite coast. Once again, black clouds were gathering. We had a quick look at a castle in the middle of the harbour, and made a dash for a cafe before the rain hit.
It was only a short shower, so we were able to have a wander around Nafplio's pretty, if touristy, streets. There is another fortification above the town, which we didn't climb up to. We later found out there are 999 steps to the top. That would have been a workout!
Day 7
We had so enjoyed the peaceful beauty of the Peloponnese, that now we didn't want to head back to the bustle of Athens. However, it was time to check out. We made a brief visit to the beach by the Sunken City, to skim a few more stones and soak in the view for a little longer.
On the return trip, we stopped to admire the Corinth Canal. It cuts through the rock of the isthmus in a straight line, connecting the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf. We were fortunate to see a ship coming along the canal.
We'd decided to pay the toll and come back along the motorway. It was an impressive piece of engineering, with several tunnels along the length, and regular rest stops. Back in Athens, we checked into our hotel for the night. It was a large room with an even larger balcony.
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| view from hotel |
Several years ago, we saw a short documentary about visiting Athens, in which the tourists visited Lake Vouliagmeni and had a treatment where fish nibbled the dead skin off their feet. It turns out there are places in the city which offer this therapy, too. And so it was that we found ourselves at Athens Fish Spa on a Saturday night, sat in a row with our feet dangling into tanks of small enthusiastic fish.
It's actually quite relaxing - ticklish at first, but fascinating to watch. We all agreed that our feet felt lovely and soft afterwards.
To complete the pampering, we had dinner at Plaka Meze, in Plaza Agoras. This was a more upmarket restaurant than most we had been to (fabric tablecloths, not paper!) and Graham said it was one of the best meals he'd ever eaten.
Graham and Toby finished the evening with rolled ice cream. The operators dump a cup of milk on a frozen metal sheet, add your chosen fruit, sauce or chocolate bars, and scrape and chop it all together until it turns into ice cream. It looked like hard work, but it tasted really good.
Day 8
After a hasty breakfast at the hotel, we left at 8:45 and set out for the airport on the Metro. It felt like we had allowed far too much time, but then we got stuck in the longest, slowest check-in queue I'd ever seen. We were glad we weren't in a rush.
And then the flight was delayed. Five hours after leaving our hotel, we were still at Athens airport. Soon after that, we boarded the plane, and we finally reached home at 6pm UK time - which is 8pm Athens time. It felt like a much longer day than the one where we had to get up at 3am! But it was good to be home.
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