2022 – Early/Mid May – Exploring Greece – The Peloponnese: Olympia, Monemvasia, Nafplio, Epidaurus, Corinth

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On the road

Temple of Zeus

Passing over the Patras Bridge we enter the Peloponnese, a separate peninsula of land in the south of Greece.  The land quickly flattens out with many ranches, orchards and farms.  We see the Ionian Sea off to the west before turning east climbing back into the mountains approaching Olympia.

Olympia

Excavations have determined people were living in the area as early as 4100 BC.

Route through Peloponnese

The Olympic games started here in 776 BC continuing every four years until 393 AD.  If wars were occurring when the games were scheduled, a several month truce was called until the games were completed.  The site had everything; gymnasium, preparation area, trainers, administrators to conduct the games, and judges.  Originally the games were conducted over one day but as time went on more contests were added stretching the games to five days.  Contests included: running, javelin, discus, long jump, wrestling and chariot races.  At first the athletes were only men, but boys were added to the contests sometime later.  Only male spectators were allowed.

Greek mythology is quite prominent.  Temples and altars fill the site.  Zeus was the main god that was honored in Olympia with a 40’ tall statue.  Another temple was erected for Hera and Zeus.  Hera was one of the twelve Olympians and was Zeus’s sister and wife….

Office area for judges
and administration

Gymnasium

The games ended in 393 AD when Roman Emperor Theodisius banned the practice of pagan festivals.  Parts of the site were subsequently destroyed by Romans.  More destruction occurred when several earthquakes and floods followed.

Bronze work

We visit the Museum of the History of the Olympic Games from Antiquity.  It is well worth seeing, with Olympic related terracottas, bronzes and statues from antiquity to the 5^th century AD.  Other objects include some of the actual training tools used by the athletes, as well as artwork honoring Greek gods and victors of the games.

Stadium entrance

Running track

Column pieces from
the Temple of Zeus

Before leaving Olympia, we pick up a book on Greek mythology.  Nicida reads it to me as we drive to our next destination.  It is so confusing, for both of us, that she has to read portions of it several times.  Chaos, Gods, Cyclops, Giants, sisters marrying brothers, etc., ….  Every time we think we understand what was going on, moving to the next chapter we end up even more confused.

Monemvasia

Monemvasia is Europe’s oldest continuously inhabited castle town.  The town was founded in 583 AD on an island, which now has a bridge attaching the island to the mainland.  The town is surrounded by castle walls which run from ‘lower town’, near the sea, to ‘upper town’ on the cliffs 600+’ above.

The castle gate is as far as we can drive.  Being popular with the tourists, we join the line of vehicles looking for a place to park.  From there we pull our carry-ons on the paved road to the gate where we are met by a labyrinth of cobblestone streets not suitable to pull one’s carry-on.  While Nicida waits I take off looking for the hotel.  I find it but no body answers the door, so I resort to calling, fortunately ATT has service.  We missed the check-in office at the town’s entrance, so they send a person to take us to our room.  The building is made of stone, the room has bare stone walls in the bedroom area.  Low ceilings and an even lower doorway greet us.  The room is wonderful.  The balcony opens with a view to the sea.  Because all the motorized vehicles are at least a quarter mile away, it is quiet.  Blissfully quiet.  We empty our carry-ons of all the unnecessary stuff, carrying small bags back to the car.

Like several of the other towns we have visited the streets wind around buildings sometimes ending in people’s yards.  It’s so small one cannot get lost, or not get lost for long.  Stopping for lunch the restaurant is overrun by high school kids.  This is the third or fourth time we have come across a whole school of kids visiting the same place we are.  The restaurant has a run-on ice cream.  The two workers are busy serving up one or two scoops to dozens of kids.

Lunch finally completed, we make our way back to the room to relax on the balcony taking in our view of our small bit of Monemvasia and the sea.  A pair of aggressive sparrows land on our table expecting to be fed.  They don’t take no, or a light shooing for an answer.  After several minutes of this they finally get the message taking off to pester some other tourists.

View from upper town

We have been wearing our cameras every day of the trip so far.  The only time we don’t have them is when we sleep, going to the bathroom or driving.  We strap them back on and take off into town.  The castle in upper town is our destination but we meander through lower town eventually finding the cobble stone walkway to the top.  Photo ops jump out at every turn: doorways, flowers, gardens, and churches.  

Castle wall

The cobbled street to the castle is a series of switchbacks furnishing ever more spectacular views.  Once through the upper gate, the top of the cliff reveals itself.  Wealthy families of the day lived here.  The remains of large houses can be seen.  Large cisterns covering hundreds of square feet caught water enabling the inhabitants to live without relying on going to the mainland.  That along with being able to grow food in this area allowed the people to withstand sieges from enemies.  We walk a small portion of the upper town finding a lighthouse below.  From the end of the cliff the sea opens with distant land rising from and falling back into the sea.  The sea is too many shades of blue for me to name, I can only stand and admire all the beauty.

As the sun sets, we make our way back to town.  Restaurants are full.  We find one with the cook eager to explain each of the items on the menu.  They must have been busy earlier, as we select three or four items, she informs us they are already sold out.  We finally suggest the cook tells us what she has before we decide.  The cats in the area must recognize the pattern; people arrive, sit for a while, food arrives, then the cats move in, closer, and closer, making themselves known, then waiting and intently watching.  We resist feeding them, so we don’t get a larger glaring of cats.  Our waitress comes with a stick shooing them away which works for a few minutes, but then they are replaced by another bunch.

View to the mainland

The next morning, we find a restaurant for breakfast.  Electing to sit outside on the roof starts out well.  As others arrive so do sparrows.  These are even more aggressive than the ones we had on our balcony yesterday.  They land on the table, even on our plates expecting food.  Some of the other patrons throw pieces of bread out on to the roof beside the restaurant diverting them for a moment or two.

Returning to our room we add water and sunscreen to the camera already on our hip.  We stroll through the maze of streets finding even more photo ops than we saw yesterday.  Finding one of the castle walls Nicida ascends the steep uneven steps lining the inside of the wall to the base of the cliff, the end of the wall.  I watch from below.  Returning she tells me of the great view I missed from the top of the wall.  We exit the town continuing towards the lighthouse.  We return to town hiking up the same street to the upper town, visiting the church, and citadel on another section of the cliffs we didn’t visit yesterday.  The view looking back to the bridge we took to visit Monemvasia and the land beyond are breathtaking.

On the road

After checking out and the hike back to the car we program our route to Nafplio.  The ‘best’ route is the one we took here but that will not do.  We choose a shorter mileage, longer time, route instead.  Following the road, we come to the turnoff starting a new excursion.  About a hundred yards down the paved road, it becomes a one-and-a-half lane gravel road….  Slamming on the brakes we decide this is a bit too rural for us, there probably will not be any signs translated into English along this road.  After the Garmin is done ‘recalculating’ we are directed to another option, this one paved.  The road even has a name, always a good thing.  We proceed through a few small, very small, towns.  No gas stations to be seen along their streets.  We keep ascending the mountains towards the wind turbines along the ridge line.  Nicida is getting a bit nervous when Garmin says we are on ‘road’, no name, just ‘road’.  I stop to scan the map on the screen seeing that eventually we join up with a main road on the other side of the mountains.  Our paper map does not have the detail to see the road we are taking, so we are relying on Garmin.  We have seen only one truck on this road going the opposite direction.  The scenery is pretty, mountains, valleys and small towns perched on mountainsides.  A few miles after we cross the mountain saddle, we can see the Aegean Sea in the distance.

Arriving on the coast we follow a two-lane road up and down the mountainous coastline.  We stop at a few pullouts overlooking idyllic beaches.  Approaching Nafplio the towns grow larger with many restaurants, hotels and condos lining the road.

Nafplio

Bourtzi Fortress

This time we are staying in an apartment.  The owner is there to show us all the features.  We especially notice the clothes washer in the bathroom.  Once the owner gives us the key and leaves, we make ourselves at home.  One of the first orders of business is to do the laundry.  There is no dryer, so I pull out the rope to dry our clothing.  We are only about a mile from the main part of town, an easy walk.  The streets along the way are filled with cars, there is little parking, making me glad the apartment provides off-street parking.

The old town area is closed off to vehicles.  All we see are shops, restaurants and cafes, all full of tourists.  Curiously most of the restaurants along the port include French items on their menus.  Red and pink bougainvillea’s overhang the alleys.  We come across several hundred kids from multiple schools, each in their own little group.  We speak with a tired waitress finding out this is an annual thing the schools do.  They expect to be this busy for the next three days as different schools cycle through town.  The few waitstaff run back and forth serving sodas, fries, or chocolate to drink.  We are the only ones that order a real meal.

We walk towards the port seeing the same breathtaking blue sea.  A few small fishing boats bob in the water.  From here we see the three castles in and around town.  Two are on hilltops with the town on one side and the sea on the other, the third is on a small island in the port.

Palamidi Castle on
the hillside

The main, and largest castle is the Venetian built Palamidi Castle.  It dominates the city.  Construction was started in 1711 completed three years later, which is amazing when one looks at the size of the castle.

The walk up

Access is gained by road or the rumored 999 steps to the top.  We are told there are actually 857.  We, of course, opt for the steps.  Each place we stop on our trek provides a stunning view of Nafplio and the surrounding sea.  It is enormous, it’s divided into distinct sections each designed to be independent, with barracks and cisterns.  The walls are thick, three to four feet in spots.  Many slits are incorporated into the walls providing places to fire on attackers.  Over time many different peoples ruled this area with the Greeks finally defeating the Ottomans in 1821.

Bourtzi Fortress from the
Palamidi Castle

Inside walls

After spending so much time visiting the Palamidi we didn’t have the time or energy to visit the other castles.  Lunch and a stroll on the walkway around the base of the smaller castle, with the sea on the opposite side, is the way we end our visit of Nafplio.

 Epidarurus

Medical center

Greek mythology is incorporated into Epidaurus.  Cutting it short, Apollo had a son, Asclepius, who grew up to be a skilled physician.  He was born in Epidarvos which is the town where the health center Epidaurus existed.  It became the best and famous health center in antiquity.  It was constructed in the 6^th century BC operating until the 5^th century AD.  It included temples, baths, and athletic venues.

Theater

Theater

Athletic field

Most famous, a theater was built, in the 4^th century BC, primarily to host ceremonies honoring the god Asclepius.  Over time additions were made and now it has 55 rows, seating up to 15,000 people.  The acoustics are amazing.  We were far up in the theater when a person on the stage dropped a coin on a stone, we could clearly hear the coin hit the stone from over hundred feet away.  The actual theater was destroyed in 395 AD, falling off the radar until it was rediscovered in 1881.  The theater was restored during the early 1900’s and is still used today.

Corinth

We continue driving the back roads to our hotel outside of Corinth.  This is our last stop in the Peloponnese.

Corinth is both an ancient and modern, only about 50 miles from Athens.  The ancient city was destroyed in an earthquake in 1858 with the new city being built where it exists today.  There is a lot to see in the area, but we don’t have the time to do it justice.  We stop in the new town for lunch, walk around a bit, see the canal.

The canal is just outside the city.  It connects the western Mediterranean Sea with the Aegean Sea.  It is 4 miles long but is narrow by today’s standards being only 70’ wide at its base.  Initial interest to dig the canal started in the 1^st century AD.  Emperor Nero started work but was unsuccessful.  Work started again in 1881 but financial problems stopped its completion.  It was finally completed in 1893.

Corinth Canal

The land along the canal rises going from west to east.  It is only a few feet above the water on the west and over 300’ at the eastern end.  Due to its size, it is mainly used by tourist ships with about 11,000 ships using it each year.

We return to our room packing all our stuff into two carry-ons and backpacks.  We have to take the rope for drying clothes to tie Nicida’s bag together because the zipper split on the flight to Athens two weeks ago.

Next, on to Crete

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark