Greece

Mycenae, Greece

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Our final stop in our tour of the Peloponnese was the city of Nafplio. We spent multiple days here, so we’re going to break up our activities into multiple posts. The first activity we did was a day trip to the archaeological site of Mycenae. This site contains the palace and tombs of this culture that pre-dates what we normally think of being the “ancient Greeks” by more than 1000 years!

Getting There

Conveniently, KTEL runs a bus from Nafplio to the entrance to the archaeological site. Since we tend to spend quite a bit of time at sites, we caught the 10:00 bus to give ourselves plenty of time. The bus was on time and got us to the site by about 11:00. So far, no KTEL drama.

The Citadel

The citadel of Mycenae

The citadel of Mycenae

The highlight of the archaeological site is the palace of Mycenae built on top of a hill with views looking out over the valley. To enter the site, you go through the famous “Lion Gate,” named for the decoration above the entrance. This was also our first chance to get a close view at the massive blocks that made up the “Cyclopean” walls that surround the structure.

The Lion Gate

The Lion Gate

Lion Gate Jelfie

Lion Gate Jelfie

Inside the gate, we found “Grave Circle A.” We were excited to see this because we had read about its excavation by Henry Schliemann in the book Greek Treasure. He believed that Mycenae was the home of the civilization that sacked the city of Troy during the Trojan War (using the Trojan Horse), and that this grave must have been the grave of King Agamemnon, the leader of the Myceneans described in Homer’s Iliad. Currently, the evidence seems to disagree with this being Agamemnon’s grave, but it does seem to indicate that this site is the home of a civilization that defeated Troy.

Grave Circle A

Grave Circle A

At the top of the acropolis, there aren’t many structures left, but we were able to see the outlines of the ancient palace, built in the structure of a traditional megaron. We were a little disappointed that we could only see this from a distance.

At the east end of the site, we saw an entrance that led to an underground well. We like caves, so we decided to explore. We did have a flashlight along, which came in handy as we descended the 77 steps down into pitch black darkness. It was actually Halloween, so we were a little nervous that we would encounter some scary creatures. But, we aren’t in a horror novel and we made it out safe and sound!

Sure, let's check this out. What could possibly go wrong?

Sure, let’s check this out. What could possibly go wrong?

Boo!

Boo!

Back on the surface, we walked through the ruins of a few more residential buildings and then headed out the North Gate.

The North Gate

The North Gate

The Museum

Like all of the other sites in Greece, Mycenae has an archaeological museum at the site. The Myceneans didn’t leave behind any amazing sculptural relics like the ancient Greeks, so the museum was a little light on content. But, it did provide a nice glimpse into the culture of these people that pre-dated the ancient Greeks.

One of the figurines found in Mycenae

One of the figurines found in Mycenae

The Graves

Outside of the main walls, archaeologists have uncovered a number of large tombs, called tholos tombs. These tombs are also called beehive tombs based on their structure: they are built with large, domed interiors. Some of them have lost their roofs, but two of them are still intact, including the largest, which is called the Treasury of Atreus. The entrances to these tombs are also built using the giant boulders, so it is fascinating to imagine how they managed to put it all together. We were also very intrigued by the acoustics inside of the beehives themselves.

Getting Away

The KTEL timetable clearly stated that there was a bus at 1:00 and 3:00 leaving from the site. Since, as we mentioned, we like to take our time, we didn’t rush and aimed for the 3:00 bus. We were a little worried because a taxi driver at the entrance had implied that the 1:00 bus was the last bus, but the bus driver that dropped us off said there would be a 3:00 bus.

We were in position by about 2:30, and waited… and waited… Till about 4:00… There were a few other people waiting as well, and everyone was pretty frustrated. One group pitched in to get a cab, but there wasn’t room for us. We were stuck there with one other traveler, who turned out to be a fellow American. Luckily, he had a local friend who graciously offered to pick us up and take us back to Nafplio. We aren’t sure what we would have done if she hadn’t agreed to take us as well!

These cats were able to catch a bus at the site faster than we were,

These cats were able to catch a bus at the site faster than we were.

Sparta, Greece

globegazers 4 Comments

THIS… IS… SPARTA!!

Most people in our generation probably think of the movie 300 when they hear Sparta, and think of this famous line from that movie. Sparta was our second stop on our trip through the Peloponnese, and while it isn’t very much like the movie, we did quite enjoy it.

This is Sparta! No, really, this is actually the historical site of Sparta. And the modern town of Sparta beyond.

This is Sparta! No, really, this is actually the historical site of Sparta. And the modern town of Sparta beyond.

Getting There

We knew that getting to Sparta from Olympia would be challenging, but do-able. While we were in the town of Pirgos on our long trip into Olympia, we confirmed that we would need to connect through the town of Tripoli. The worker also told us that there was a 12:15 bus that would do just that.

Armed with that knowledge, we decided to take a bus from Olympia back to Pirgos at 9:30, just to be safe. We got to Pirgos at about 10:30 and went to buy the 12:15 ticket… and were informed that the next bus that would be going to Tripoli was at 3:30. In fact, no one seemed to have any idea about the supposed 12:15 bus. When we asked, repeatedly, the answer was “The next bus is 3:30.” We were pretty bummed, but there wasn’t much we could do about it. So, we spent five hours in the Pirgos station reading and working on the blog (at least there was free Wi-Fi).

When we got to Tripoli at 6:10, we were pretty excited because we heard that the bus to Sparta was leaving at 6:15. Finally, a quick connection! We bought the ticket, and went outside and waited… and waited. Finally around 6:45 the bus pulled in. But, in broken English the driver told us that we should just wait for the next bus that was coming in 10 minutes or so – looking closer it seemed that maybe the bus was full. It was a bit confusing because he did let other people on the bus. But, it was the same answer for us and another couple of backpackers… The bus pulled out of the station and we weren’t on it. Needless to say, we weren’t pleased.

We had just started to settle back in when we saw the bus driver run back into the station on foot. The ticket saleslady starting yelling at him, pointing at us and the other couple. The driver motioned at us to follow him, so we walked briskly out onto the side of the highway, where we dodged traffic to throw our bags under the bus. We got on the bus and discovered that it indeed was full. We found a spot near the rear exit where we could sit semi-comfortably in the aisle. Della did get a seat offered to her by someone halfway through, and ended up having a pleasant conversation.

So, another frustrating trip on KTEL. There are more stories like this coming as well…

At the Pirgos bus station... we spent so much time here that we probably should have listed it under "Where We Stayed"

At the Pirgos bus station… we spent so much time here that we probably should have listed it under “Where We Stayed”

Where We Stayed

Since we were a little unsure about making it all the way to Sparta, we didn’t pre-book anything. In general, there wasn’t even that much in Sparta listed on websites like hostelworld or Booking… Sparta just doesn’t seem to be on the tourist radar as much. Lonely Planet did list one budget option which didn’t even have a website, so we decided to just show up at it and hope they had space. Luckily, the Hotel Apollon did have space and turned out to be a nice place to stay. We had a spacious room, and a pretty substantial included breakfast every morning. The front desk staff was also very helpful with any questions we had.

What We Did

The most renowned site in the Sparta area is not actually the ruins of the ancient Greek civilization, but rather the ruins of the medieval fortified Byzantine city of Mystras. The city is built on the side of a mountain just 5 km away from Sparta. Normally you can take a bus to Mystras from Sparta, but the day we wanted to go was a Greek national holiday, so it didn’t seem like buses were running. Instead, we ran into the same couple that was almost left on the bus from Tripoli to Sparta, and we agreed to share a cab to the site. The cab dropped us off at the upper entrance – highly recommended since it makes it easy to walk down through the ruins. We did just that: started at the ruins of the castle at the very top, then worked our way down, visiting monasteries, the palace, and residences on the way down. The monasteries were both abandoned and active with some old but well-preserved frescoes that gave a glimpse into the Greek Orthodox culture as it existed during the late Byzantine period. Mystras is considered as one of the last remaining centers of Byzantine culture until the empire fell in the 15th century. We got particularly lucky, the day we visited, the site was free! That was exciting after having to pay for a cab to get there… and back. After visiting the site, we were able to get a cab with our fellow travelers back to Sparta from the lower entrance.

Back in town, we took a visit to the Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil. It may not sound interesting, but we found it fascinating. The top floor of the museum gives the history of the olive and discusses how it and its oil can be used for a wide variety of purposes: food, light, rituals, etc. The lower floor discussed all about how to make olive oil, and had examples of the different machinery that has been used to make the oil from ancient times until the present.

We did decide to visit the ruins of ancient Sparta, but as our guidebook warned, there isn’t much remaining. The Spartans were much less interested in building temples than they were in training warriors. Just north of town, there is a small site that you can wonder around in free of charge. There are the ruins of a theater, and some scattered remains of structures from the acropolis on top of the hill. It does take some imagination to appreciate them, but the site does also provide some nice views of the surrounding valley and mountains.

Where We Ate

After being in the artificial town of Olympia, it was kind of nice to be back in an actual town where it seemed that real Greeks lived and the shops and restaurants were not geared to tourists. However, the first night we did end up eating in a restaurant in which every other table was filled with tourists (a group of British high school students on a school trip). The second night was the national holiday, so all of the sit-down restaurants were packed with celebrating locals and we just chose to eat in a less-crowded Greek fast food place. Our final night in town we ate at the Lonely Planet-recommended Tsipouradiko. This was our first experience at a place without an English menu, but luckily the waiter was able to recommend a meatball dish that we ended up enjoying quite a bit.

Final Thoughts

If you go into Sparta expecting to see sights from the movie, you will be sorely disappointed. Since that wasn’t our expectation, we enjoyed seeing the sights that the town did have to offer. And we appreciated the chance to be in a city that wasn’t just a tourist attraction as well. The weather was a little gloomy for us to completely love our time, but we definitely enjoyed our visit and would recommend it for your Peloponnese itinerary.

Olympia, Greece

globegazers 5 Comments

After taking care of some business in Athens, we headed into the Peloponnese peninsula. Our first stop was Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic Games.

Getting There

Olympia is a small town, so it isn’t super easy to get to. But, we thought we had seen that there was a bus from Athens to Olympia at 1:00, so we aimed for that bus.

Getting to the bus station in Athens is actually a huge pain, since it is not located anywhere near a metro station. Google told us that we could take the metro and then a local bus, so we attempted that. We caught the metro as planned but then did not see the bus come. We were about to give up when it finally came. We hopped on, then realized it was headed the wrong direction! We got off and tried to head back to try again… and it started raining. We tried to catch a cab and none would stop. Talk about moments of misery. Eventually we did find a cab which took us to the station. In the end this was probably for the best, because by this time it was pouring, and the station was in the middle of a confusing industrial zone.

The ride itself was long but uneventful. We knew that most people were probably getting off at Pirgos, the biggest town near Olympia, but were pretty confident we could just stay on since neither the ticket agent nor the driver informed us otherwise. Instead, in Pirgos everyone got off and we were told that the bus ended there after all. The next local bus to Olympia didn’t leave for an hour and a half, so we had to kill time in the Pirgos bus station. We didn’t end up making it to Olympia until almost 8:30!

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On a positive note, we did get to see this nice rainbow on the way

Where We Stayed

The “town” of Olympia has a very touristy vibe: it really only exists to provide tourist services for the ancient site nearby, so there isn’t much to speak of in terms of local flavor. We found a cheap hotel on booking.com called Anesi Rooms to Rent. We had a small but servicable room with a nice hot shower and a sizable balcony. The wifi was strong as well, so we spent our downtime drinking wine and watching some shows on the Internet.

Bonus points if you can figure out which show we're watching!!

Bonus points if you can figure out which show we’re watching!!

 

What We Did

Since we weren’t in much of a rush, we planned to spend two full days in town checking out the archaeological site and the various museums. However, for some reason two of the museums are closed on weekends, so our only two activities were checking out the site and the main archaeological museum which luckily were still open.

Olympia Archaeological Site – Olympia was the host site for the ancient Olympic Games from the 8th century BC all the way until the 2nd century AD. These ancient games were not just an athletic competition: they were also a chance for the Greeks to pay tribute to their Gods. Therefore, the site has quite the collection of ruins, both for athletic and sacred events.

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The sacred structures are concentrated in an area called the Altis. The oldest structure is the Temple of Hera, one of the older Doric temples in Greece. They still light the flame for the modern Olympic Games in front of this temple. The biggest temple is the Temple of Zeus. Only one of the giant Doric columns has been reconstructed but it is still quite impressive (you can still see pieces of the other columns that tumbled to the ground during an earthquake in the 6th century AD). Another impressive building is the circular Phillepeon, commissioned by Philip of Macedon (father of Alexander the Great).

The big stadium is still intact. It doesn’t look like a modern stadium in that the only seats are for the judges – the spectators would just sit on the sloping grassy hills on all sides of the track. One cool thing is that you can run on the track today. The old starting lines are still intact, so we took the opportunity to run back and forth between them (in the ancient games, they would run back and forth instead of running laps). Within the site, we also walked through the ruins of various structures built to house visiting dignitaries, and a large colonnaded courtyard within which the athletes would train.

Olympia Archaeological Museum – As was the case at Delphi, Olympia has a separate museum where many of the sculptures and other artifacts found at the site. We were actually disappointed in the route that the Rick Steves guide suggested to take through the museum: the museum itself was laid out chronologically, but his tour took us randomly through the more important artifacts. After we finished his tour, we actually went back and did went through all the rooms again just to get a better sense of the timeline of events at the site.

Here are some of the highlights from the artifacts we saw:

Where We Ate:

Since Olympia is such a tourist town, there aren’t many inspired dining options. We did end up eating out twice. The first time, we just went to the small restaurant next door to the Anesi (where we stayed) that is actually run by the same people that run the hotel – our waiter was the same person who checked us into the room. The second night we just randomly picked one of the tourist restaurants and got a pizza in order to take a break from gyros and souvlaki for a night.

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Final Thoughts

The ancient site of Olympia is very impressive. We especially enjoyed exploring the ruins once the large tour groups had left by mid-afternoon. The town of Olympia itself is not too exciting, so don’t plan on spending much more than a day or two.

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Monthly Recap: Month 4

globegazers 5 Comments

Wow! Month 4! The month was characterized by slower travels and more connections! We are also so pleased to announce that we have become first-time uncle and aunt this month. Congrats to Eric’s sister Suzanne on the birth of her beautiful baby girl, Sofia.

Here are our stats for this month.

Countries visited: 3 (Montenegro, Albania, and Greece)

Beds Slept In: 12

UNESCO Heritage Sights Visited: 7 (Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra, Butrint, Meteora, Archaeological Site of Delphi, Archaeological Site of Olympia, Archaeological Site of Mystras, Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns) Total on RTW: 30

We traveled by 0 planes this month!

We traveled by 0 trains this month!

We traveled by 20 long distance buses.

Top Moments:

~ Our first top moment came at the very beginning of the month! We had been looking forward to our visit to Kotor for a long time. We really enjoyed slowing down in Kotor at the end of last month and the beginning of this month. One of the best days we had there was when we climbed the fortress walls. It was an absolutely gorgeous day weather-wise. We waited until the late afternoon to miss the cruise ship crowds. We climbed up the mountain, enjoying amazing views, and even a sunset on the way down. It was lovely!

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~ Our second moment came in Berat, Albania. We knew almost nothing about Albania when we arrived (though learned a lot while we were there) so we didn’t know what to expect. We had heard that it was not really on the tourist track in Europe. We were so impressed with Berat! Our top moment came when we decided to take a tour of the city offered by the worker at our hostel. He was a native of Berat, and knew a ton about his city and the history of Albania. The tour was particularly personalized because there were only 4 of us. The other couple was an amazing pair of bikers from Belgium. The tour started at 10 am and after seeing the beautiful city of Berat, we sat down for Turkish coffee (tea for us) and then dinner with both our guide and the Belgian couple. It was a fantastic way to spend the day, full of everything we love about traveling – new friends from around the world and learning a lot about cultures we didn’t know much about!

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~ We mentioned above that this was a month where we made some really great connections. The first was our Belgian friends in Berat, the next was a couple of Americans from Washington state (and Idaho). There is almost nothing better than seeing another pair of travelers trying to make the same long travel day as you are. It helps with confidence, knowing that someone else is attempting the same trip, as well as company! It is even better when you find out that you have a lot in common and really enjoy chatting with each other. Our top moment was when we were able to visit the ancient site of Delphi with our new friends. Wow, we have to say, it is a wonderful experience to find another couple who enjoy reading Rick Steves (and other informational signs) as much as we do, and who enjoy talking popular culture, TV, and books (even the Wheel of Time series!!!) in the breaks. What luck! We had a great time!

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Runners up for Top Moments:

~ We already mentioned in this recap that we really enjoyed our time in Albania. Another example of this was our time at the archaeological site of Butrint. This was a wonderful place with a lot of history, but the best part was that we got to experience it practically on our own! We didn’t see any other tourists almost the whole day! What was even funnier was that when we got back to our hostel in Saranda, we found out that 4 other people from there had done it as well, separately, but it was big and empty enough that we didn’t even see each other. This is not to say we don’t enjoy company, but there is something special about experiencing an ancient city (and tourist attraction) without having to dodge the crowds.

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~ Our second runner up was in Meteora, Greece. We were pretty excited to finally reach Greece, which we had been looking forward to for a very long time. Della has dreamed of visiting Greece for as long as she can remember. Meteora did not disappoint. We walked among the monasteries taking in the unique, impressive scenery and imaging what it must be like to make your home on the top of vertical pillar, high above the world. It was especially good when we were able to escape from the tourist bus crowds.

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~ We had a wonderful time with our new friends in Delphi, Greece. One of the activities that we did with them was to take a walk from Delphi, down the mountain, through the olive groves, and to the coast. It is actually the reverse of what many pilgrims did in ancient times on their way up to hear their fortune from the Oracle. We had a magnificent day, with perfect weather. The scenery was shockingly beautiful and our company was grand. It was hard to beat!

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~ As some of you may already know, we celebrated 10 years of being together as a couple this last month. We couldn’t have picked a better locale. Delphi, Greece was absolutely beautiful. It is hard to imagine a better way to remember 10 great years with a person you love while overlooking one of the most fantastic sunsets you’ve ever seen!

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Items Missing, Broken, Discarded, or Added:

Discarded/Broken:

1. Simple Wine Opener

Added:

1. New toothpaste

2. More Complex Wine Opener

3. Butter knives

Packing Update:

We got to use our summer gear a bit this month which made us happy! We also have used our winter and rain gear, so we are glad we have it all. Della hasn’t used her dress since Budapest so is wondering if it is necessary. Eric is happy with all of his contents.

Books Read: (Have you read any of these??)

Della has read Fire From Heaven by Mary Renault and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

Eric has read The Persian Boy by Mary Renault, The Golden One by Elizabeth Peters, Black Ice by Lorene Cary, Making Money by Terry Pratchett, Crescent Dawn by Clive Cussler.

Eric and Della have BOTH read The Greek Treasure by Irving Stone and Hope of Earth by Piers Anthony.

Make sure to catch up on all our monthly recaps: Monthly Recap 1, Monthly Recap 2, Monthly Recap 3

Zumba Round the World: Athens, Greece

globegazers 4 Comments

We had to take a slightly unscheduled trip to Athens. It was kind of a bummer to give up a little bit of our time in the Peloponnese but it did have its merits! We are bed bug free AND we got to do our 4th Zumba Round the World! We were lucky to find another Zumba class quite near our AirBnB in Athens. We were a little unsure because the Zumba site said that there would be a class at the same location at both 8 and 9 pm! We decided to head to the 8:00 class after we finished up dinner with our new travel friends. This was slightly unfortunate because we were still full from a yummy dinner when we got started dancing. And this class was high energy! Maria from Baila Conmigo Dance and Fitness made sure we got sweaty and sore! She did a lot of incorporated squats in her class which was something we sorely needed (pun intended!)

We found out when we arrived that it was the first day of her 8:00 Thursday class. It was lucky for us because it meant that the class wasn’t too big and Della got to have her space. She craves her space when she’s dancing Zumba! Eric was excited because, even though the class was small, he wasn’t the only man!

Maria explained that she had started the 8 pm class because her 9 pm class had gotten too crowded. It was much busier as more students streamed in after we were finished and Maria started her 2nd upbeat class of the night (wow!)

We area heading back to Athens in a few days to meet up with Della’s family (yay!) and there might even be time for us to head to Maria’s class again! Super excited!

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Moments of Misery: Bed Bugs…?

globegazers 5 Comments

Most of our posts on this blog will be happy recollections of some moments of our trip. But life on the road won’t always be fun. We feel like we’d like to share some of these moments of misery too. (OK, and vent a little about them too…)

Good night, don’t let the bed bugs bite! Normally you think this is just a cute little rhyme. It’s a lot less cute when, suddenly, the bed bugs do bite. During our first stay in Greece, we woke up in the morning with some unexplained bites on our arms and heads. We weren’t really sure what they were. It seemed possible that they were mosquito bites… but they seemed to be a little bit too grouped for that. We didn’t see any evidence of bed bugs, so we didn’t worry too much… yet. We slept a second night at the same location. Eric woke up with bites again, this time it looked like some bug had marched up his back and around his neck… though Della had none. We met another couple who talked about their experience with bed bugs and it had some similarities to what we were experiencing. Again, we found no evidence of actual bugs though.

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We moved to our second place in Greece, feeling incredibly guilty if we were bringing bugs along with us. Though, we took many precautions to keep the place safe. Another night and Eric had a few more bites, though now they seemed random and Della still had none. Bed bugs or not?!? We just couldn’t be sure. All of our research said we had to actually see the bugs! We took our bags apart and scoured everything. Della found nothing, but Eric found 2 things that might have maybe been bugs? Too small to tell. At this point we had a decision to make, continue our plans to head to the Peloponnese, staying in more small towns, or head to Athens where we could find a laundromat and try to kill the maybe bugs once and for all. We used some info from this site and our new travel friends who talked about how they got rid of them. Oh… did I mention that this was happening on our 10 year anniversary???

We decided to head to Athens where we found a laundromat and promptly washed and/or dried every piece of clothing or bags we have. This included all of our packing cubes, our toiletry kits, our day bags, and even our large bags themselves, as well as our clothes of course. This was not super easy as we had to take everything apart and somehow figure out how to get the bags in small dryers.

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Holding the dryer shut… because our bags kept pushing it open…

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Laundromat

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Everything came out of our bags… Can you believe we carry that much stuff around? Most of it is in the washer or dryer even!

A couple hours and almost 15 euro later we were done. We headed to our AirBnB feeling pretty confident that it would be just us for the night.

Connections: Rick Steves, Wheel of Time, and Wine!

globegazers 8 Comments

Traveling is a wonderful way to meet people! Unfortunately, often those connections are strong but only fleeting. Connections is our tag to recognize and remember some of the wonderful people we meet.

We were leaving Meteora, a little unsure what the day would hold. We were hoping to make it all the way to Delphi, not very far by distance, but at least 4 bus rides… we were told. We hadn’t even made a hotel reservation because we were slightly unsure that we would even make it all in one day. The first bus left at 8 AM, which is quite early for us. We were sitting at the bus stop, still trying to wake up, while waiting for the bus when we saw a welcome sight. Two more backpackers, heading our direction! As soon as they sat down, they said hello and we quickly found out that we were both planning this long confusing day of travel.

We found out over the course of our loong travel day that they were a couple also from the USA, who we really enjoyed chatting with. When we arrived in Delphi they graciously shared where they were staying. It had been on our list from when we were looking so we were pleased when we also were able to stay there.

The next day, we all left the hotel together and headed off towards the ancient site of the Oracle of Delphi. Here we were even more impressed with our new travel companions. Not only did they really know a lot about ancient Greece (we learned a lot!) but they were equally interested in hearing from our Rick Steves’ guidebook and even reading informational signs. Let me say that again: they wanted to hear from the guidebook AND take the time to read the signs. We were thrilled! There just aren’t that many people out there who can go as slow through museums and sites as we can (and wish to). We enjoyed a lovely day with them. It was so much fun we decided to hang out again the next day.

This time we decided to take a day long walk down from the mountain all the way to the coast. It was a long, lovely walk and we found that enjoyed them even more! They were into all the same TV shows and book series that we were. I mean, let’s be honest, there are not that many people out there who are super excited about Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series (OK, there probably are… we just haven’t met them!) Another great day.

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We all decided that we were having so much fun in Delphi that we wanted to stay another night. So, we had another fun evening of drinking wine in our hotel.

There was a little wine involved...

There was a little wine involved…

From there, we were all heading to Athens so we took another long journey together. We were fortunate to be able to meet one more time for dinner in amazing Athens, eating dinner practically in the shadow of the Acropolis. Another great connection with some amazing people! We were sorry to have to say goodbye!

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Our last dinner in Athens

Delphi, Greece

globegazers 5 Comments

Our second stop in Greece was the town and archaeological site of Delphi. The Ancient Greeks considered this area to be the center of the world, and the best place to worship Apollo. Dignitaries would come to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi to get advice on big decisions from the priestesses located here. We weren’t planning on getting any advice, but we hoped to see the plethora of structures left over from when Delphi was such a prime destination.

Getting There

We knew that it was possible to get from Meteora to Delphi by bus from Lonely Planet, but the instructions were vague so we were a little nervous. We talked with the bus office the day before, and they said we needed to start early to make it all the way. Luckily, on the day of the journey two fellow travelers were intending to make the exact same journey, so we all did it together, which made it go more smoothly and quickly. (Look for a Connections post coming soon…)

The sequence of buses ended up being:

  1. Buy a ticket in Kalabaka to Lamia
  2. Catch the 8:00 AM bus from Kalabaka to Trikala
  3. In Trikala, transfer to a bus bound for Lamia at 9:00 (using the same ticket from 2)
  4. In Lamia, buy a ticket to Delphi
  5. Catch the 12:45 bus from Lamia to Amphissa
  6. In Amphissa, transfer to a bus bound for Delphi at 3:30 (using the same ticket from 5)

We didn’t end up getting to Delphi until about 4:30 PM, so definitely a long day of travel!

Where We Slept

We hadn’t pre-booked anything before arriving in Delphi because we weren’t positive we would make it in one day. So, we arrived without a plan, but our travel friends were headed to a place that sounded good so we tagged along and got a room at Hotel Athina. The room was nice, but we had a shared bathroom that was a little rustic, so after two nights we switched (along with our travel friends) to the Sibylla Hotel, where we had our own bathroom. Our favorite feature of both rooms was a nice balcony with a great view over the valley below.

Enjoying some local tsipouro (a type of brandy) from the balcony at Sibylla

Enjoying some local tsipouro (a type of brandy) from the balcony at Sibylla

What We Did

The Delphi Archaeological Site and Museum – This is the main attraction in town, so we tackled this the first day. We bought a combination ticket to both the outdoor site with the ruins and the museum which houses a lot of the sculptures found at the site. We toured the site first.

The biggest part of the site is the sanctuary of Apollo, the big destination for those coming to consult the Oracle. Delphi was an active site from at least the 8th century BC up until the 4th century AD (meaning even the Romans kept the site active). Since it was such a popular site, many of the different Greek city states built “treasuries” containing offerings to Apollo to thank the oracle for her advice. The most well-preserved of the treasuries is the Athenian Treasury, built by the Athenians to commemorate their victory at the Battle of Marathon.

The main attraction in the sanctuary was the Temple of Apollo. The oracle would sit in the middle of the temple over a natural fissure in the rock and speak in tongues. Priests would interpret the words for those who came to ask a question. (Some say that there were hallucinatory vapors coming from the fissure). There isn’t much left of the temple but it is still fun to imagine walking up the ramp and waiting to ask your big question.

Delphi was also the host site of the Pythian Games. Similar to the Olympic Games, these were gatherings of all the Greek peoples every four year to compete in various contests. The stadium where the athletic events took place is at the top of the hill. The Pythian Games also included artistic competitions; a large theater used for these can be found at the site as well.

The theater from the top row of seats

The theater from the top row of seats

The remains of the stadium from the Pythian Games

The remains of the stadium from the Pythian Games

Apollo was the main god being worshiped at Delphi, but there was also a smaller area with structures dedicated to Athena. This is just a few minutes walk further down the road from the main site. The most iconic ruin here is the Tholos, with its three reconstructed columns. They haven’t actually figured out what its purpose was.

In front of the Tholos

In front of the Tholos

The Tholos and the Sanctuary of Athena with the Santuary of Apollo on Mount Parnassas in the background

The Tholos and the Sanctuary of Athena with the Santuary of Apollo on Mount Parnassas in the background

After we finished visiting the ruins, we headed into the museum where we got to see many of the actual statues. Here are some of the highlights:

Hike Down to Itea – Most people only spend a day in Delphi, but the natural setting on the side of the mountain was great, and the weather was perfect. We had read about a hike in the Lonely Planet, and decided to spend a day doing it along with our travel friends. The hike goes from Delphi all the way down the to the Gulf of Corinth at a town called Kirra. This retraces (in reverse) the route that pilgrims coming to Delphi via sea would take once they had landed their boats.

The scenery for the hike was quite pretty.The first half descending down the slopes of the mountains and through the town of Chrissos provided great views over the valley and out to the Gulf. Then, the second half of the hike along the valley floor went through a giant olive grove -according to Lonely Plant the largest continuous olive grove in Greece.

The trail was supposed to end in Kirra, but somewhere in the olive grove we took a wrong turn and ended up closer to the neighboring town of Itea. This wasn’t too bad though, because our main goal was just to find a beach, and Itea is also on the coast! We found a spot on the pebbly beach (not too hard since it is starting to be low season) and had a nice relaxing afternoon. The water was a little chilly, so we didn’t swim for too long.

The Gulf of Corinth

The Gulf of Corinth

The town of Itea

The town of Itea

Luckily, we didn’t have to backtrack and hike our way back up the mountain! Instead, we just took one of the local buses that whisked us back up there for a small fee.

Where We Ate

Our Rick Steves guidebook recommended a few different tavernas in town. The first night we came across one and decided to give it a try. The food was pretty good, but the best part was the view of the great sunset from our table.

IMG_2843

Two of the nights we spent in town, we found a cheap pita place on the upper street in town. Not as fancy of an ambiance, but definitely a good amount of food for the money!

Final Thoughts

We really enjoyed our time in Delphi. We knew that we would appreciate the archaelogical importance, but we weren’t expecting to be as drawn in by the natural surroundings as we were. The great weather every day helped as well. And to top it off, it made it even more fun to be able to share with new friends!IMG_2441_edt

 

Meteora, Greece

globegazers 6 Comments

Our first stop in Greece was the Meteora region. This area’s claim to fame is a large number of Orthodox monasteries that have been built on top of rock pillars. We were excited to spend a couple of days exploring the different monasteries and the natural surroundings.

Getting There

Our hostel host in Saranda helped us catch a bus from Albania into Greece. The border crossing took a while but was ultimately fine. We had to get off that bus in the town of Ioninna, where we needed to find another bus to the town of Kalabaka (the closest town to Meteora). We went in the station in Ioninna not knowing what to expect (but excited that there was such a thing as a station!) and discovered that the next bus passing through Kalabaka was leaving in just 10 minutes! We bought our ticket and hopped on that bus.

Goodbye Albania!

Goodbye Albania!

Approaching the pillars of Meteora

Approaching the pillars of Meteora

Where We Stayed

When visiting Meteora, you have the choice of staying in the main town of Kalabaka or in the smaller village of Kastraki. We eventually chose Kalabaka because that was where the bus would drop us off. There are no hostels in Kalabaka, so instead we found a hotel on booking.com for not too bad of a rate. We stayed at the Hotel King on the main business road. The room wasn’t large, but we were pretty excited to have a big bed and our very own bathroom. The hotel manager gave us lots of very useful information about visiting Meteora as well.

Our room

Our room

Our room did come with a balcony - only with a view over town though

Our room did come with a balcony – only with a view over town though

What We Did

Hiked to The Monastery of the Holy Trinity – We had assumed that our first evening in Meteora would just involve relaxing after the long bus journey. However, the hotel manager informed us that one of the monasteries, Holy Trinity, would be closed the next day, so he recommended that we try to visit it right then. You can drive up to the monastery, but we didn’t want to pay for a taxi. Instead, the hotel manager showed us a nice hiking trail that would take us straight to Holy Trinity.

As we hiked out of the town of Kalabaka and headed up, we really enjoyed the views looking up at the pillars. The trail was quite steep though, and then to get to the monastery itself you have to hike up more stairs carved into the pillar it sits on top of. So were pretty out of breath by the time we made it to the top!

The interior of the monastery was pretty with a couple of different chapels, but there were no interpretive signs so we weren’t quite sure what we were looking at. Outside, there was a great view looking back down over Kalabaka and out towards the other monasteries.

A nice garden outside the monastery

A nice garden outside the monastery

The view from the edge of the garden looking back over town

The view from the edge of the garden looking back over town

Walked Around Meteora – The next day we wanted to see some of the remaining monasteries as well. We decided not to see all of them, mainly because the admission fee is actually quite steep – 3 euros (4 US dollars) per person per monastery. We didn’t feel like doing the steep hike up again, so this time we decided to get driven up. The public bus company actually offers a bus three times a day that drives from Kalabaka up to Meteora. We were amazed to discover that we were the only people doing this! It was much cheaper than a cab and quite convenient.

We got off the bus at the farthest east end of the circuit. The monastery there was overrun with tourists (just dodging tour buses in the parking lot was a challenge) and didn’t sound like it had anything inside of particular interest either, so we skipped it. We walked along the mostly level road back in the direction of the other monasteries. We were a little frustrated by the weather – it was cloudy and grey. It did not make for very impressive pictures, however, it did keep us from getting too hot and sweaty, which is a benefit, we suppose.

We did stop at the Rousseau Monastery in the center of the circuit. We only saw nuns here so we think it may technically be a nunnery. Again there were some interesting works of art, but with limited interpretation, so we didn’t linger for very long. There were some other overlook points in this general area that did provide for a good place to take pictures in either directions.

We made our way to the western end of the circuit and visited the biggest of them all – The Great Meteoron Monastery. This one turned out to have three different levels that could be visited. Not only did it have the biggest chapel we had seen so far, but it also had a few different small museums that showed some items from both Greek and Orthodox history. We’d recommend for future visitors to start here (or only go here if you only want to pay one admission), because it definitely does the best job providing a context for what you are looking at.

To get back down to Kalabaka, we found a trail that left from just below the Great Meteoron. It was steep, but not as exhausting since we were going down this time!

Walked Around Kastraki – We had originally planned to spend three nights in Meteora since we figured we would need two full days to really see everything. However, since we had already seen everything up with the monasteries that we wanted to see, we didn’t have much we felt like we needed to do on our final day. We ended up just walking over near Kastraki (the small village nearby). We wanted to explore some of the old hermitages, which were wooden structures built in some of the caves in the pillars which were used by religious hermits. Unfortunately, the road to get closer to these was gated off, so we only admired them from a distance. We did find a nice shaded gazebo nearby where we could relax and admire the views, both of the monasteries and of a group of goats that were nimbly climbing over one of the pillars.

Met Up With Travel Friends – We were able to meet up again with the couple that we connected with back in Berat. Our schedules synchronized so that we were both in the area, so we were able to spend another lovely evening hanging out with them.

Where We Ate

After being able to eat out for very cheap in Albania, our first stop in Greece was naturally a bit of a letdown. Compared to American prices, it actually isn’t that expensive, but it still carried a bit of sticker shock for us. So, on two of the three nights we actually just ended up getting something cheap to go, like a gyros pita or some tzatziki from the grocery store.

A gyros pita and the cheapest beer we could find

A gyros pita and the cheapest beer we could find

Tzatziki and retsina (Greek wine_

Tzatziki and retsina (Greek wine)

Final Thoughts

The natural setting of Meteora is very beautiful, and seeing the monasteries on top of the pillars is definitely awe-inspiring. Visiting the monasteries themselves was actually a little bit of a letdown, with the steep admission fee, lack of interpretation and lots of crowds. We’d definitely recommend going, but don’t feel bad about just limiting yourself to the Great Meteoron unless you really are into Greek Orthodox art.

Connections: Belgian Bikers!

globegazers 1 Comment

Traveling is a wonderful way to meet people! Unfortunately, often those connections are strong but only fleeting. Connections is our tag to recognize and remember some of the wonderful people we meet.

We really enjoyed our time in Berat, Albania. We were able to meet and enjoy a lot of people from around the world. Not only did we meet an amazing Albanian tour guide/hostel worker, but we met another amazing traveling couple. This Belgian couple is traveling from Europe to Asia on bikes! Yes, that is correct, they are biking across the world! Amazing, right? Let’s just say that our trip felt positively cushy when thinking about theirs.

We met them during our tour of Berat and found we had a lot of similarities relating to our trip, age, and interests. We particularly enjoyed chatting about teaching (he works at a university to train teachers) and the differences between Belgium and the U.S. especially related to voting, politics, and other governmental systems.

One of the really fun things about meeting people on the road is being able to share experiences like this. We spent a wonderful day and fun evening with them in Albania. One of the really sad things about meeting people on the road is having to say goodbye knowing that it is unlikely that you will meet again. One of the slightly unusual things about this connection was that we didn’t have to say that goodbye right away. We knew that we were traveling the same directions, from Berat to Gjirokaster, and then on to Greece. They would be leaving ahead of us, though arriving behind us (they’re on bikes remember??) but we discovered we would be in Gjirokaster at the same time. We exchanged contact info and planned to meet up again. Unfortunately, our plans in Gjirokaster fell through. What a bummer! However, that made it all that much more fun when we realized a few days down the road that we would be in Meteora, Greece at the same time! We enjoyed another excellent evening with this excellent couple!

Now, it is hard to expect more than that, so we were especially thrilled when we saw the same couple (ever so) briefly in Delphi, Greece as well. After all of that, I hope we do manage to meet again some day!

Unfortunately, we failed and this was the only picture of us... Boo!

Unfortunately, we failed and this was the only picture of us… Boo!