Today is Sunday 9/11/11. We went to church this morning in the little village church just below our hotel and said a prayer for our country and the people who died on 9/11/01 and all those people all over the world who are suffering as a result of the wars that started that day.
In Greece in the villages they want to make sure that people know when church starts so the bells start ringing quite loudly at quarter to eight for services starting at 8:00am. Orthos started at 7:00am but they must figure noone is coming that early so why annoy the entire village.
We got up, packed for our next adventure, had a “greek” breakfast at the hotel (coffee, cake, grilled ham & cheese and bread with honey). Nothing to write home about. We headed to the church where Bill sat on the right side with the men and I sat on the left side with the women. Beautiful service – exactly the same as every other Orthdox litury on a Sunday except no English sermon or prayers as at home.
Next stop was the Folklore museum which is open on Sunday morning. I love folklore museums as they are filled with real people’s history – costumes, photos, household items, furniture – like the things we’ve all inherited from our families.
Sunday is an odd day to travel in Greece – essentially very little was open during our road trip today. No grocery stores, big box stores, and very few restaurants or tavernas outside the tourist towns. Had the most awful lunch at a fast food place in Sparta. I actually threw mine away and went to the bakery to get a “horta (greens) pita”.
Today we travelled south through the Peloponnese peninsula from Nafplion to a small mediaval town of Monemvasia on the east coast of the peninsula. We took the “new roads” through the center of the peninsula rather than the windy scenic roads along the coast. The beginning of the route was this amazing new interstate with electronic signs and rest stops and brand new tunnels barrelling through the mountains. After that we took decent secondary routes – very rural breathtaking scenery. Miles and miles and miles of olive trees, arid dry hills and then huge mountains in the distance (7-8000 foot in height). Went through lots of no name villages. Sad to see all the trash rest areas and along the roads. Litter must not have the stigma as it does in the US.
Sparta was a disappointment. A dismal town with nothing open. As Rick Steves said Spart is something you should know about (its history) but its nowhere to go.
We finally arrived in Monemvasia after about 4 hours. Seeing the blue sea between the mountains was wonderful. I’ve read that this town was one of the top 20 must sees in Greece. As we drove I wondered how many people actually came to the end of nowhere to this destination. We saw very few tour buses and its far for the indpendant traveler and public transportation here is sparse.
Now that we’ve arrived I agree that this is one of those top 10 places or maybe top 20 that we’ve seen so far.
The old city is a medieval town built into the side of a huge rock that sits off the coast of Peloponnese connected by a causeway or bridge. There is a new town (Gefyra) built on the coast facing the rock, primarily for the tourists with hotels and restaurants. We found a reasonably priced hotel facing the bay and rock with a sea view and plopped our stuff. We tried a swim but the beaches are so rocky that without water shoes its really hard to get in and out.
We hiked over the causeway to the rock to see the old town. It’s amazing – a cross between Rothenburg Germany and Oia Santorini plopped on a tiny island. It’s an ancient walled city with little shops and ancient churches and houses that are being restored. The plateia is open and faces the sea where tonight there was a full moon.
We hiked all over the Lower Town taking pictures. Chatted with three men – Greek brothers traveling together. People are curious on how I know how to speak Greek.
We had a romantic dinner on the rooftop of a tavern overlooking the sea with full moon. Just lovely. The waiter strongly recommended that we try the fresh fish on the grill. Just 65 euros for the two of us. I just couldn’t justify spending more on the entree than we spent on our room – when we get fresh fish for $15 at home. Instead we tried some local red wine – a good choice.
Back on the mainland there is a little taverna playing real life Greek music – which isn’t that easy to find in Greece as you might think.
update 9/13 – after I wrote this post I couldn’t sleep and the music sounded good so I went over to the little Taverna. Apparently it was a tour group of Greeks travelling together, mostly middle aged and older couples. They were having a ball. There were groups of dancers on the dance floor and spread over the patio. At one point they had one gentleman in a wheelchair in the middle of the dance circle having a good time. Then the female singer took her mic out into the group and talked the priest into singing few songs – you should have seen look on this wife’s face when she came back in and heard that familiar voice belting out songs. When I left several older guys were singing with band.
A good day overall.