Leaving Istanbul, we began the main part of our trip - a 10 day road trip around the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece. As a reminder, David is half Greek. His mother's family is all Greek. His grandparents spoke Greek and his Grandmother (Theda) was actually a Greek citizen (a recent discovery). David is starting the process to gain Greek citizenship by descent. This effort was not the key motivating factor in this trip, but his tie to Greece definitely contributes to his return to Greece every few years (this is David's third trip to Greece and Paul's second). David is also in the process of learning the Greek language. While still too early in his studying to be able to hold a conversation, the exposure he received to the Greek language and culture was helpful. More to say on this in our post about Athens on the last day of our trip.
On the flight to Athens from Istanbul, we had some great views of various Aegean islands from above. After we landed, we picked up our rental car at the Athens airport. On the way out of the city we stopped at the Holy Monastery of Daphne, a Byzantine monastery that is a UNESCO world heritage site with impressive 11th century mosaics and remnants of an ancient Sanctuary of Apollo. It's a seldom visited site since it's on the outskirts of the city and not easily reachable by public transit, so we had it mostly to ourselves except for two other people and some cats. That would generally be a theme of this trip - tourist sites in the Peloponnese during the shoulder season were not very crowded. We also had nice sunny (but not too hot) weather for most of the road trip. Go to Greece in the fall, people!
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| Our road trip route. |
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| Island views from the plane. |
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| Monastery of Daphni. |
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| Frescoes with 6-winged angels (same as Hagia Sophia). |
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| Some are worse for wear. |
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| A remarkably well preserved Byzantine mosaic. |
Next we drove to ancient Corinth, our first large archaeological site of the trip. The road from Athens is a modern, high speed toll road. It crosses over the
Corinth Canal, which essentially makes the Peloponnesian peninsula an island. It was not too busy, with just one tour bus and a handful of cars. There are the remains of a temple, various ruins of Roman baths and buildings, and a small museum. Corinth was a large and important city by around 400BC, vying with nearby Athens and Sparta for dominance in the region. It received renewed attention under Roman rule. Corinth is also known for being the site where Paul the apostle wrote his letters.
Many Greek archaeological sites have adjacent museums to host items found nearby (we think this is a nice touch), and Corinth is no exception. After touring the ruins we spent some time in the four-hall museum showcasing items from Corinth and nearby. An interesting fact about this museum is that in 1990 the Karhalios gang (a man, his father, brother and a friend) broke into the museum, assaulted a guard, and stole 270 artifacts. This event is very uncommon and also very dumb. All the items are well catalogued and purchasing them would clearly indicate their origin as stolen. Most of the items were recovered in a raid in Miami (Florida man strikes again) in 1999, and some others were found on auction at Christie's in New York. It's a pretty wild story if you want to
read about it!
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| The site is pretty dramatic with a mountain behind and the sea below in the distance. |
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| We all love a good plan that lets you visualize the site 2,400 years ago! |
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| Paul chilling on the ancient Corinthian streets. |
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| If you squint and use your imagination, you can feel what it must have been like to be here during it's heyday. |
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| The Temple of Apollo. |
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| The museum. |
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| Twin Kouros Statues - returned in 2010 after they were smuggled! |
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| A medusa mosaic. |
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| David walking in Corinth. |
Leaving Corinth we drove to our first lodging of the Greek road trip, in the city of Nafplio (sometimes also referred to as Nafplion, an older name). It was a very pleasant 50 minute drive through little towns and countryside. Our AirBnB in Nafplio was a modern condo about a 20 minute walk from the old town, with balcony views of the
Bavarian Lion and the nearby hills.
Nafplio changed hands numerous times since its foundation, from various Greek city states to Roman, Byzantine, Frankish, Venetian, and Ottoman control. Nafplio was also, briefly, the first capital of the unified Greece when it gained independence from the Ottoman Empire. The city served as the capitol from 1829 to 1834 when it was moved to Athens by the King of Greece. You can still see the old parliament building - converted from the Ottoman
Agha Pasha Mosque - in the city center.
After settling in to the AirBnB, we made dinner reservations, then walked around for about an hour, enjoying nice sunset vibes on the waterfront. Nafplio is pretty laid back (at least in the shoulder season), but there was still a nice energy and plenty of people out and about. The waterfront is lined with restaurants, full of fancy yachts, and of course there are plenty of cats. It's a very pretty city, with a fortress towering above and the Argolic Gulf stretching out to the horizon ringed with mountains.
That evening we had dinner at Wild Duck restaurant. It was nice, and our favorite dish was a phyllo dough wrapped fried house-made feta cheese with tomato compote and honey. We sat outside and had some good cocktails, and enjoyed some house-made limoncello at the end. On way back to our AirBnB we stopped at a little convenience kiosk and got water, wine, sprite, and ouzo for €5.40. Can't beat those Greek prices!
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| Our AirBnB. |
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| Nice view from the balcony. |
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| The charming streets of Nafplio. |
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| Waterfront of Naplio. |
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| Big ol' yacht. |
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| Cats, sunset, mountains, and water. |
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| Not to be outdone by cats, Paul enters the ring! |
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| Bourtzi Castle, a 15th century Venetian fortification on a nearby island in the Gulf. |
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| The fortress looming above town. |
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| Phyllo-wrapped fried feta. Yum! |
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| David's salmon with potatoes and veggies. |
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| Paul got the restaurant's namesake duck! |
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| This dessert was like a phyllo mille-feuille with cream and honey. |
In total, we spent 3 nights in Nafplio, which served as a great base to explore the Argolis region of the Peloponnese and it's numerous sites like: Argos, Epidaurus, and Mycenae. More Nafplio and surroundings coming up in the next post!
