Day 9 – After a pretty ordinary
night at the hotel Delfini (dolphin) in Piraeus it was a traipse through the
(dodgy) streets to find the Budget hire car place. After a detour the wrong way
around the block all was located and all was good. Well nearly all was good, I
signed the contract and negotiated the Grenglish with one exception… “Please do
not hit people… car crash OK, your insurance cover, but do not hit people… it
is not exactly, how do you say… legal to drive on this licence…” !!! Not sure
about the validity of this statement as I thought international licences were a
thing of the past however it was enough to put the fear of the Greek Orthodox
god into me and ensure that I doubled my efforts not to run into any one!
On the road again and after the
first of numerous exclamations at the way the crazy Greeks drive we arrived at
our first stop Delphi. It was a brisk alpine area and even though we only just
got there before closing, 45 minutes was enough time to wander the main archaeological
site, and the remainder of the afternoon spent at the two ‘lesser’, free,
sites. Delphi contains the Temple of Apollo where the priestesses (even back
then the women really wore the pants) used to give out oracles (fortune
tellers) after you paid a fee, sacrificed an animal etc. Allegedly they used to
actually get high off some sort of methyl vapour introduced into the temple via
two underground fault lines which run directly underneath the temple and talk
gibberish.
Earlier we had driven through the
‘cute’ town of Arachova a few km’s before Delphi and whilst the archaeological
site was impressive the actual village of modern Delphi didn’t inspire us so we
retired to Arachova to find a room. A Lovely old couple offered us an awesome
‘chalet’ style room for 55 euro; however in an attempt to make budget (for the
first time) we kept searching and found a 35 euro bed at the hotel Apollo. An
afternoon and evening spent bar hopping starting at the Hotel Gospel (free Wi-Fi)
and a ‘home cooked’ restaurant meal from some locals, led to a bit of retail
therapy and buying treats (baklava and ice-cream).
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| Treasury of Athens |
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| The stadium/theatre/thingo |
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| The Streets of Arachova |
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| The Treats of Arachova |
Day 10 – Up early to make the
mountain crossing towards Meteora. Arriving in the general area of Meteora we
were initially gobsmacked by the various monasteries perched (literally) on top
of the boulders above the town of Kalambaka. Stopping for lunch (baklava) on
some rocks looking back at the Grand Meteora (the biggest and ‘original’
monastery) couldn’t have been more scenic way to spend lunch. Our enthusiasm
was temporarily dampened when arriving at the Grand Meteora to it being shut
(closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays for those playing at home). However two of the
nearby monasteries were open and we went in to take in our little task of monk
life. Back to Kalambaka for the night (some lucky people might get free
postcards from the Aeolic Star hotel) and dinner at a local diner where
Mousakka and lamb were thoroughly enjoyed!
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| Lunch on a rock over looking, from left to right, St John's (I think), Grand Meteora and Versasse (or similar...) |
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| Close up of the one I think was St John's |
Day 11 – Not to miss out on the
namesake of the area it was straight up the mountain to get back into Grand
Meteora (it being a Thursday and open) and we were not disappointed. The
biggest monastery is also the most accessible to the public and this coupled
with some great historical displays on the two Greek wars of independence and
the battles associated with freedom from Nazi occupation more than satisfied
the history nerd in me!
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| Grand Meteora |
Unfortunately my joy was short
lived as it was back on the road and dealing with the crazy Greek drivers. What
I thought were, line markings, road signs, warning signs, speed cameras, Police
radar traps or any other road information service… turns out they are
generically known as ‘tourist traps’ Something that gives the locals much
enjoyment in staring, flashing lights, honking horns, yelling at the latest
tourist who falls victim to these novelties!
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| Smiling in the face of death on Greek roads... |
Not knowing where our final
destination was we headed south towards Olympia, our eventual destination the
following day, and reached the town of Patras late in the afternoon. What
could’ve gone either way turned out to be a vibrant, modern CBD of a university
town full of trendy cafes/bars and lots of young students. Turns out the student
population is blissfully unaware of the impending European financial doom and
the general feeling in Patras represents this to great effect. Having had a
substantial lunch on the way looking over the water at Mindili we spent the
night café hopping and sampling the local chips/nuts/ general appertiffi (not
sure what the Greek term for it is). What a great time, would highly recommend
a night there (as long as it’s in semester probably).
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| Night life in Patra |
Day 12 – A quick dice with death
on the roads and we were in Olympia. As per everywhere being the end of the
season it was very quiet, no crowds and with the exception of a few German tour
groups who we avoided, we had the place to ourselves. It’s a pretty impressive
archaeological site to think of all the different civilisations which have used
it for various reasons (pre-historic man, ancient Greek, Romans… and tourists).
We managed to the get the actual stadium area to ourselves for a photos shoot.
Being inside such a large area with no one else around gives you a feel for how
massive it really is and one can only imagine it being full of Greeks during
the ancient Olympics. The restorations of a few of the other areas are useful
to get a feel of what the ruins that lay strewn everywhere once were.
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| The boxing and Wrestling arena at Olympia |
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| The ancient Olympic 178m sprint... |
Once out of the site we by-passed
the museum after I checked whether the actual statue of Zeus was there… “No
only photo…” an afternoon spent wandering the main street of Olympia and the
shops which were still open this late in the tourist season. Lunch of Gyros,
free Wi-Fi and premier league replays were enjoyed in the afternoon sun and
great whether.
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| Gyros for lunch in Olympia |
Not wanting to dice with death
all the way to Athens on the day we were due to fly we got back on the road and
headed towards Athens. As sunset approached we ended up in Corinth and because
it was on our to do list, but too dark to see just then, we stopped there for
the night. A heaps dodgier version of Patras we found cheap accommodation, had
a quick bite, a coffee at a café and got an early night for our big day of
travel.
Day 13 – Lucky 13! Hard to think
we’ve only been on the road for less than 2 weeks; we have seen and done so
much already. We managed to accidently end up at the same spot that the
organised tours stop to view the Corinth Canal and proceeded to take the
obligatory tourist photos. Whilst it is an impressive excavation/engineering
exercise, being a realist I can’t help but think it’s a bit of a waste given it
is way too narrow to be used by modern ships. Having said that I spose it is
120 odd years old, and is probably more of a feat when viewed from that
perspective. The bungy jump was closed but can’t say I was willing to try it in
a post GFC Greece were cost cutting everywhere is so evident!
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| Corinth Canal |
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| Corinth Canal |
Successfully navigated back to
the airport and had a win when explaining to the Budget guy that our charger
for the GPS they hired us didn’t work and he took it off the price! (We charged
it off our laptop anyway but he didn’t need to know that). A quick AirOne
flight to Milan in time for the 15:15 high speed train to Firenze (Florence).
High speed trains are awesome, especially in 1st class, which our
EUrail allows us to enjoy free drinks and snacks. If only I could speak Italian
to get the complimentary Wi-Fi up and running! Not to worry, I’ll hand this
blog over to the Editor-in-Chief (Katrina) and sit back and relax…
Love M&K!
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