Day 15-Every Day Should Begin With Waffles and Ice Cream

I literally think that everyday should begin with waffles and ice cream.  There was this place in the middle of Nauplion that had a sign for it!  So on our last morning in Nauplion before we headed out for the day, Dan and I decided to have them for breakfast.  Best idea EVER.  The rest of the day was absolutely amazing, all, I think, because of the waffles and ice cream.

We drove to the nearby town of Nemea, and of course we stopped at the museum first!

Columns At the Entrance to of the Tunnel That Leads to the Stadium

We took a nice sprint in the stadium.

A Fallen Column at the Temple of the Nemean Zeus

The Temple of the Nemean Zeus

To tell you the truth, everyone was pretty excited to get out of Nemea, because we were going wine tasting next, and that was REALLY exciting.  What was even more exciting is that at the Skouras Winery (where we went wine tasting) the spittoon had my name on it!! Spelled the right way! (which was I think the only time in Greece I saw my name spelled like that...) 

Destiny

Every winery needs a pony-tailed man.

We drank too much.  We bought too much.  And just as we were leaving the pony-tailed man called me into the back room and asked me about my last name.  Apparently the only Master of Wine in Greece has the name of Konstantinos Lazarakis.  Pony-tail gave me Lazarakis' wine book for free, which kinda made me feel like a celebrity.  We boarded the bus and headed to the ferry.  We were headed to Crete!!

Day 14-Epidaurus and The Asklepieion

Asklepius

We viewed the archaeological museum at the Asklepieion before walking the archaeological site. 

The un-traditional circular Tholos

The Actual Rooms People Stayed in Are Behind This

THE THEATRE OF EPIDAURUS!!!

Here is a pretty theatre.

Here is me standing in front of the pretty theatre.

Here is me doing my Phaedra monologue in the pretty theatre.

The theatron is huge!  And the acoustics in the theatre are absolutely perfect.  I wasn't using a level 1 voice and I could hear myself at the top of the house and encircling behind me as well.  It was a totally amazing experience being able to do a monologue there.  Way cool.


Everybody Loves A Nerd:

The Skene Building at Epidaurus

After a lecture at the top of the theatron we headed to another ancient theatre, simply called:

At this point I was still riding high from Epidaurus, and none of us had had anything to eat.  It was also very hot that day, and the second theatre was entirely in the sun.  We went back for a lazy rest-of-afternoon and just enjoyed Nauplion.

Day 13-Mycenae and I'll Show You Zorba the Greek!

Our day began at the Tomb of Agamemnon/Treasury of Atreus.  The tomb had been raided previously to be "discovered," so there weren't any fun goodies inside; however the tomb with beehive-like dome is still in very good condition structurally.  From here we moved to Mycenae.  They say that Agamemnon's sleeping outline can be seen on the hillside opposite Mycenae.

The valley in between Mycenae the other hills is literally perfect for battle.  It is possible to literally see anyone from any direction they are approaching.  Good locational choice!

A Valley

Lion Gate!!!

Supposedly somewhere around here Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon...

We went to the museum and then it was off to lunch.  We went to this place that literally looked like it good have been Aphrodite's Palace from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."  And this is what came of it...

After we went to an authentic Greek ceramics workshop.  We got a demonstration of how the pieces are constructed; which is still traditional.  And then we got to shop around.  Just as we were about to leave someone heard a cat stuck somewhere in the bus.  It took the 28 of us, Yiannis, plus two other dudes to try and find this effing cat.  Roula said this has never happened to her in her however many years of tour guiding.  People were actually getting emotionally concerned for the cat.  I was concerned for the bus.  Darwinism.

How Many People Does It Take To Get A Cat Unstuck From A Bus Motor?

The cat got out safe, but Roula needed to bum a cigarette off me in order to be okay.


We had a group dinner that night in Nauplion at the taverna 'Kipos.'  Then we received a special treat!  We had a folk dancing demonstration, which ended up being more of

Hey, Danielle, you're Greek, come up here and dance with us.

I only knew one Greek dance at that point, which wasn't one of the ones they were demonstrating.  And surprisingly, I knew them.  Something came out of me that night, and I'll never know what it was.  But I was Greek, and there was no denying it.

Roula took us out for ice cream after.  Nummy.  And then we went to the club...

...and we had fun.

Day 12-To Nauplion...Oh But Let's Go to Corinth First

It was a misty morning when we left Arachova.  We stopped at this truck stop on the way to the Archaeological Site of Corinth.  It was way too trendy for where it was located.  Red lights, fully stocked bar, hip cafe tables.  And it was practically empty, except for what looked like some Turks...we were sitting down having coffee when all of a sudden this huge busload of old Greek people on a tour of some kind came into the cafe.  All at the same time 40 little old ladies run, well, hobble to the toilet, just as Roula was telling us we needed to go.  About four of the girls in the group including myself needed to use the restroom.  Roula pushed past the old ladies, yelling at them in Greek.  There was a very awkward moment when we were being shoved from behind and from the front, and I was a little afraid that one of the elderly ones was going to pull a knife.  But we peed, all because of Roula.  Efharisto Roula. Para poli.

We made it to Corinth where this happy guy (shown below) gave us a very warm welcome. 

He's Happy To See You

We Saw Some Broken Things...

...and a headless man...

...and a hole...

Lechaion Road

I took my shoes off and walked on an ancient road.  And I almost sat in a chair. 

The Temple of Apollo at Corinth

It was a little too far down to the ground for me...

From the archaeological site we made it to the museum, where I learned where my hair came from.  Half of us boarded the bus and the other half went exploring in an ancient theatre across from Corinth with Joe for a bit.  When everyone was back on the bus, Roula put on "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," and we drove happily towards the Corinth Canal.  There was a cafe literally right next to the canal and we ate lunch and waited for a boat to come so the canal would lower.  It was at this cafe that I found the only Pepsi cola in Greece; although because it was just a Pepsi bottle and I didn't open it, it very-well could have been Coke in a Pepsi bottle, although it did taste like flat Pepsi...

This is a really good 'This Guy!' picture

I LOVE this guy.

Shortly after the Corinth Canal we arrived in Nauplion.  The cutest city in the world.  I think Nauplion was one of my favorite spots.  It has a really fun area to walk around, and it is literally just beautiful.  We met on the roof with the owner of the hotel and it was free frappe's for everyone.  

The View From Funnels O' Riley and Boozy Lazarakis' Room

Me In Our Room

 After a long day of traveling, Joe mentioned that this night was our only opportunity to hike to the top of Palamidi Castle.

The View From 1/4 Of The Way Up There

Castle's are Cool

The View At The Top Was Breathtaking

Originally I was going to have the wife carry me up...but she has asthma...

Yay! We did it! (It was almost 1000 stairs!)

This was on a menu in Nauplion...absolutely precious...

I Love Lamp

Day 11-Thunderstorms Are Sexy

This should be advertising something

The breakfast in Arachova was one of my favorites, because, I was finally able to get some loukoumades (like Greek doughnut holes)!  They also had a really friendly atmosphere...





Today we were adventuring to the mystical Delphi, but first, a stop at The Athena Pronoia with the Tholos; which is I believe one of two circular Tholos--here at Delphi and one at Epidaurus.  It was overcast this day, so the pictures of the ruins look AMAzing.

From there we went straight to the Archaeological site of Delphi  Which, let me tell you, is quite the hike.

We were excited.

The Temple of Apollo at Delphi

Theatre at Delphi!

Probably My Favorite Picture of Joe

Ancient Stadium at Delphi

I want to see a bear fight in this stadium.

"The Roula"

Here's Creepin' On You Delphi

We had a lecture at the stadium at the top of Delphi, then walked (I slipped and pulled a muscle) to the museum back at the bottom. 

I still want to be her when I grow up

The First Record of Musical Notation

Does the Charioteer Give You Nightmares?

We left the site and went into the current city of Delphi for lunch.  It's a really quiet town with not much going on.  We headed back to Arachova bearing the small trinkets we had purchased at Delphi.  The sky grew darker and it began to rain.

I've always been a big fan of thunder and lightening storms and the most beautiful one I saw was in Arachova.  We sat on the balcony drinking Metaxa, talking about life and cheering at lightening flashes like a bunch of five year olds.  It was a perfect moment.

That night the hotel had scheduled a free happy hour for the entire group...I don't think they had planned on serving that much wine, but had to have gone trough 15-20 bottles of wine, not to mention anything that you got at the bar was still free...Alexis, Maurice, Sam, Dan and I got the opportunity to go to dinner with Joe after the happy hour.  Which may or may not have been a bright idea.  But we all had fun.  We returned to the hotel for more drinking and hopefully less shenanigans...or so we thought...