September 9, 2011
This is the start of a two week, two country trip for me. Bill will be with me in Greece for the first week and I’ll be on my own in Italy the second week. Our planned itinerary is 3 days in the Peloponnese, followed by a ferry ride to Crete and 3 days there with family and then a day in Athens.
Bill and I finally made it to Greece this morning and have had a full day since landing in Athens.
I spent a lot more time planning this trip that I typically do, getting projects for work finished, preparing for the Greek Festival and iTenWired summit, paying bills, fretting over itineraries, hotels and packing, etc. I even spent two days shopping for comfortable shoes – very uncharacteristic for me. We were so excited that in-laws Jim and Bonnie were joining us on this trip to Greece followed by a girls’ week in Italy. I even gave Jim extra consideration in choosing hotels and transportation (he’s a five star traveler and we are not). However at the last minute they had to cancel due to family illnesses. We are all disappointed. So now Bill and I are on our own. The last time we traveled in Europe alone – no kids, moms or friends – was before Brian was born in 1987.
With all my planning and to-do lists I procrastinated on making a car reservation in Athens. At 11:00pm the night before we are leaving I get on the phone with the reservation agent. Then I remembered that Greece requires an International Drivers Permit. At that point it was a little too late to go to a AAA office. However we had long layovers on our trip so in Charlotte we got on an earlier flight to Philadelphia,
giving us a 5+ hour layover in Philadelphia. We hopped in a cab and went to a nearby AAA office and got a IDP for Bill. So $150 later the problem was resolved.
Driving in Greece has come a long way. Most of the way from Athens airport to Nafplio we drove on a brand new toll road with very little traffic. Sadly we ate our first meal in Greece at a Goody’s – their equivalent to McDonalds – at a service center. However McDonalds doesn’t serve a feta, olive, tomato sandwich on crusty French bread with olive oil!
It’s much hotter here than I expected – in low 90’s during the day and pleasant at night. There is also a haze hanging over the mountains and horizon.
Getting out of Athens was very easy. We headed towards Corinthos I was looking forward to seeing the Corinth Canal. Somehow we got tangled up in the ugly town of Corinthos and before you know we were in the Peloponnese and I never saw the canal.
Once we were on Peloponnese things got more green and rural. This area is a big farming community – olives, grapes etc. Fruit stands lined the country roads. We made it to the coastal town of Nafplion early afternoon. Our hotel, Pension Dafni, is a lovely little 12 room hotel in the old town on a pedestrian only road. We parked on edge of town and rolled our bags to the hotel (glad we packed light). Then we took a flight of stairs, an elevator that is 3’x3’, another flight of stairs and up a ladder through a trap door to our attic room. Well worth it when you walk out to the tiny balcony and have a 280 degree view of the entire town, the sea and the fortress. Plus the room has air conditioning.
This is a lovely little town that sits on the Sea of Corinth. As in most Greek ports there is a wide open paralia (walkway) all along the water with tavernas and shops across the street. Nafplion is an elegant town (the old town at least). It was the first capital of Greece when it gained its independence in 1821.
One of the things I love about Greece is the siesta tradition. We were ready for a nap by mid-afternoon and it was one of those great sleeps. We strolled around town and found a little taverna (Ailous) for dinner. There is nothing like a Greek salad in Greece– it just tastes better here. Tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, olives, peppers and no lettuce. We wondered why they had no other business at 7:30 pm. By the time we finished the place was filling up. The town comes to life on a weekend late. The main square was full of kids and bikes and families eating.
Tomorrow we plan to visit the Fortress that sits above the town as well as the well known archeological sites of Mycenae and Epidavros – both within an hour’s drive of Nafplion.
More to come….