Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 January

The 7th was basically a travel day with an early morning flight from Trieste to Munich and then a two hour flight to Athens. Basically uneventful other than a comment that Trieste really is a very small regional airport so us thinking that we had to be there two hours early for an international flight were unfounded since the place was basically still still asleep when we arrived 1 3/4 before the flight. The plane was small but still a lot bigger than our internal flight in Fiji from Nadi to Savusavu so Lyndell was not too worried.

We picked up the rental car at the airport. The man asked whether we wanted GPS or not. Initially Marc said ‘No’ since we had purchased the atlas of maps but then he asked ‘How Much?’ Turned out for the week it was €61 and Lyndell was more than happy to pay that.
(Most definitely, as I was quite worried bout navigating through the roads of Greece when they were all in Greek…it definitely would have been ‘ all Greek ‘ to me. So I was more than happy to pay the star for a GPS )

It has paid off since the GPS has proved more accurate than the maps although it has been useful having both. The GPS takes you on the quickest route but that at times has meant going down some pretty small laneways (they do not even deserve the name of ‘road’) and, when available, sticking to the toll roads. We use the map when we don’t want to do those types of roads and the GPS also seems to have some problems at times finding the archaeological sites and Lyndell has proved to be more accurate with her maps in those times.

Anyway, back to our journeys … Marc had planned to go to the sites on the Polypennase peninsula first and thought that by the time we arrived at the airport, had picked up our bags and sorted out the rental car it would already be mid afternoon with minimum time to drive too far. As it turned out, we arrived in the sleepy village of Mikines just before 3pm. Everything looked shut. The accommodation suggested by Trip Advisor was closed for the season (except for cats since there were at least 13 cats of various ages and pedigrees hanging around the front of the place). We parked and just chose the next hotel that looked ‘decent’ from the outside and went and tried the door. The place was dark and looked closed but Marc tried the door and it was unlocked. We went in and rang the bell and an older Greek man with a little English came out. On questioning, he did agree that he was open and we could have a room for €35 for the night with breakfast and would we like to look at it. We had the pick of the rooms since we were the only guests. In fact, after our wanders later, we decided we were the ONLY tourists in the whole town that night. The room was VERY basic but clean so we took it.

Next, what to do with the rest of the afternoon and evening. We went up to the archaeological site and found that it was only open from 8am until 3pm (as are the rest of the sites during winter we have since found out). What to do with the rest of the afternoon of the afternoon. Because we are now further south than our previous destinations, we still had two hours+ of daylight left. We quickly realised the little town had little to offer but we did wander the full length of the Main Street and out into the edges of town then up to the church so we could say that we have seen the town. Little was open and all the shops looked run-down. The Greek economy is so depressed by austerity measures imposed by the European Union. (We cannot see how they can get out of it since they pay Eurozone prices for the goods they import but they only charge Greek prices for the commodities and services they sell – and they really only have tourism, olives and feta to sell – 3500+ years of civilisation has left them with little else).

Well, we did our bit for the economy of the little town of Mikines – we stayed, we bought some nibbles for the road and bottled water from the local shop (the town water is not suitable for drinking so we needed something to brush our teeth with) and, after some furtive hunting, we found a bar/cafe filled with men playing cards but where one woman only came out ( actually she was the only woman) and encouraged us to eat a meal. With broken English she encouraged us to try different dishes. We were not that hungry but she looked so disappointed when we ordered only one meal between us, we ordered two meals and sat outside on the terrace away from the room full of smoking card players. We were the only two people who were eating. The food was fine and the wine okay although white )not much choice).

Back to the room. Lyndell felt a little ‘creepy’ being the only tourists in town. (There were a lot of young men hanging around…and not one woman to be seen even. I was very conspicuous with my light colouring in comparison to the colour we were seeing as well…)
Night ablutions…..a story indeed …
Marc had a shower in the small shower recess with no shower curtain or screen – meant he had to squat down over the drain hole to contain the water splashes. The water was warm enough but not hot. Lyndell had a look and settled for a ‘top&tail’.
( This was not really a shower by my standards, or any standards.i had so far seen in the multitude of places we have stayed in Europe ..it was a square..maybe a square..ceramic hole right next to the toilet….no curtain, no barrier, no nothing….so no matter what you did. You wet the toilet bowl or the floor…..then there was the actual ‘shower part’ which was a hand held thing…which I would probably wash the dog with….I could not see myself squatting down like Marc did….my body would not bend that tightly, and if it did..I would then probably get myself stuck….and I would not get up. You either had to sit cramped up on the floor in this little ‘bowl’ and try to achieve some measure of a wash, or stand and get nothing except water all over the floor….so I chose neither….much better idea. )
Sleep was okay and in the morning we had a lovely simple breakfast in the owners own lounge room downstairs. ( I was actually cold for the first time I must add. You had to turn the AC onto hot…and one cover only on the bed….a little brisk…..)
BUT IT WAS the Best coffee we had had for some time.
I guess one made up for the other!!

I must add that the whole town was full of cats …cats and kittens…some dogs but these were owned…we think that the cats were feral in nature…there were so many of them. We experienced a cat wailing fight a few times from our little balcony!

We paid the owner cash for the night and left for the archaeological site up the road knowing we had injected the only tourist money into their economy for that night.

8 January.

The day dawns beautifully with pristine blue skies above. Today begins our exploration of Ancient Greece. The problem was our history was a little patchy so we have had to buy a book to help us decipher the ages of what we were seeing. Luckily our travels today turned out to be in chronological order.

Mycenae was the capital of the Mycenaean civilisation that flourished from 1500 to 1100BC until vanquished by the Dorians. The ruins of the city were very interesting to explore. They obviously had not mastered the arch yet but relied on corbelled archways over lintelled doorways and tombs with parabolic roofs that we discovered made great echo chambers.

We were the first tourists in and beat the tour busses. We had the place to ourselves and the people minding the place. We explored every nook and cranny of the place that they allowed people into. One such nook was an un-roped off arch way in the outer wall going into an unlit tunnel that lead down into the cistern built to ensure adequate water supply in the event of siege. Well I had to go down and have a look but no torch – only Lyndell’s I-phone glow (she did not have a flashlight app on it. Part way down a sudden 90deg turn thus no external light getting in. I came back and when Lyndell said that although she would not stop me, she would rather I did not explore further – I took this as a tacit that she had not said, “No”, so I went back down. The way was VERY dark and after a further descent made another right-angled turn the descent became steeped with more uneven steps. The roof looked safe so I continued despite the minor glow from the phone never making much of a dent in the descending darkness in front of me. Interesting, at about the same time as my nerve left me and I decided to return to the surface, I started to hear Lyndell’s plaintive calls from the surface asking that I come up again. I was expecting to at some point reach water and maybe a cistern supported by columns it the darkness kept going down and the steps were uneven – I really did not want to slip and end up IN the cistern so I answered Lyndell and reassured her continually as I ascended back into the daylight. I had passed my comfort zone and I think I had passed Lyndell’s as well.

(Mmmmmm….Sounds quite calm and matter if fact….no I was quite the opposite. I wish now I had said No. He had descended down for ages….I wandered around a while and looked at the pictures of where we were and where we had gone…..and found the picture of the steps descending to the cistern…..where he had gone. It descended down and down and down and then it suddenly, stopped and your were hit by water.
Of course I was imaging the worst….Marc in this dark dungeon like stairs..no light except the cell light off my phone…walking and turning and then suddenly hitting the water …and maybe he might not be able to come up as the phone would be wet and there goes his light. It was a horrible feeling waiting and waiting and waiting for him to return from this depth (and praying he was ok) ….
I began to panic when he did not return ..hence my plaintive cries calling out his name.
There was no one else around either……I was isolated!!!
Did I paint this ‘calm’ picture for you?)

Anyway, we had explored the ruins and went into the museum. We were both amazed at the number of artefacts from up to 3500 years ago that the archaeologists have found and been able to price together as well as the exquisiteness of the craftsmanship of that time time, both in the pottery and in the bronze work. Even the remains of receipts for goods written on clay with symbolised writing indicating how well organised their commerce was at that time. Very interesting.

The first buses were arriving just as we left for Epidavros. Again the GPS led us on some narrow roads but all generally in the right direction until Lyndell rightfully worked out that it was trying to take us to the town rather than the archaeological ruins -> turn off GPS and rely on Lyndell – it worked, we arrived just as one small tour group was leaving and left the huge amphitheatre to just us and three American tourists. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. One of the Americans did an oratory from the centre of the stage and it was easy to hear him even at the very top of the seats. I tried to get Lyndell to sing but she could not remember the words to any songs except the national anthem. Even then her shyness got in the way although this was her chance to really star on the BIG stage – it does not get much bigger then this without a microphone.
( when put in the spot to sing, I cannot remember any words at all…happens all the time…and yes this was my starring role for a few minutes in this huge amphitheatre.
I did end up singing waltzing Matilda from the top of the amphitheatre looking down and yes you could hear it quite well…( the other tourists who were there having a talk could hear it as well….hence my shyness and I stopped ) but it was a magical experience to just be there in this ancient theatre.)

Just to experience the amphitheatre was worth the trip and to have it practically to ourselves under a blue sky an added bonus. The rest of the archaic site had been devoted to a healing cult dedicated to one of the gods, Asklepios, but there are very few ruins to see with the original temples and buildings having been pillaged back in antiquity first by the Romans in 86BC and a few years after by pirates from Kilikia. Then the Goths plundered it again in 395AD. Finally Emperor Theodosius II banned all the cults in 426AD resulting in the ruin of not only Evidavros but also other places we were to see such as Olympia. The earthquakes in the 6th century did the rest but left the seating of the amphitheatre pretty much intact other than the end walls and seats that have since been reconstructed.

We had intended to fit in Mystras, the ruins of a Byzantine city built in 1249 towards the end of the Byzantine Empire. The map did not make the distance look too great but the GPS indicated that the drive would take about 2 1/2 hrs and we knew the place closed at 3pm so off we head. Again narrow ways and then an odd turn, away from the direction we needed to go. A turn back towards CAthens. We decided to over-rule the GPS and go the way we ‘thought’ was right. Then we found out whys this road lead up and up and up via a series of switch backs over some intervening mountains rather then back towards Athens to regain the motorway. Well, the scenery was lovely looking out over the Aegean Sea although a couple of attempts at taking photos did not due it justice. ( the scenery was great when you could look down..sharp curves..edges without rails….it was so windy and so steep..I held my breath quite a few times The surrounding countryside deteriorated to terrible rocky soil and sickly looking scrubs. I made the comment that even goats would not live up here when lo and behold, some free ranging goats appeared on the side of the road. Could not be Greece without the odd goat or two, could it? Well eventually we rejoined the road we should have been on and made it to Mystras right on 2 o’clock only q few minutes later then if we had taken the way suggested by the GPS – only due to some strenuous driving on my behalf and probably the expenditure of more petrol then if I had taken the easier way. I definitely parked five of the car’s 6 gears a lot on all the turns and switchbacks.

The woman at the ticket counter reminded us we only had 1hour to explore this hillside city. Still, were here and WERE going to explore what we could so off we go Uphill along old cobbled stone roadways that no wheeled vehicle could have ever accessed. Up and up we went making it nearly to the fortress at the top before Lyndell’s watch told us it was time to head down.

( Uphill he says….uphill is a too lenient word…vertical would be the best way to realistically without exaggeration describe this walking experience…complete with twisting and turning vertically on cobbled stones and paths that were not paths at all..just rocks strewn together, it was hard going…it was tough , it was amazing that as we climbed, to think that the people here lived like this. They had actually carried their royalty up the same paths we were traversing, in a people litter…. I was certainly puffing as I went, and I was not the only one, Marc was too…)..I could not get over how the city was built into the mountain and each layer on top of the next,layers of mountain…..no flat road anywhere to be seen..just an amazing experience walking it ( yes even vertically ) and imagining the past !
By now we had explored a few archways and a few Byzantine churches on the way up and we almost made it right to the top…we were about 75-90 metres below it and it was perched on top of the rock….but we had to turn around as time was not in our favour). I was disappointed but pleased also not to walk those last few metres of verifiably climbing…. I think by then I had had it,,,although I have been doing so much walking uphill this holiday that even my tired legs felt, they could not go any further so we could just walk ‘straight’ back to the exit at the bottom ! )

However, ‘straight’ is an impossibility in a city that consisted of winding roads and no apparent set city plan. Lyndell’s knees were complaining by the time.
( it was really so much harder walking down than up…you had to go slow as there were rocks and cobblestones everywhere and the steps up seemed bigger going down….)
Arrived back at the exit gate just as the museum guide was about to lock the gate. I did see the walls were scalable from the inside but Lyndell had visions of being locked in the abandoned city for the night.
(I mean, really can you see me climbing over this huge rock wall and then jumping down onto the uneven ground …sooooo far below me!! Mmmmmm visions of which relic shall I sleep in tonight to keep warm,,,did come to mind ).

Well worth the time we did have in Mystras but would have appreciated an extra 1/2hour.

Next plan is to use remaining daylight to get to Kalamata for a ‘nice’ hotel having felt that we roughed it enough last night. Distance 60km. GPS say I’ll take 85min’s – hmmm, wonder why? Turns out the road follows a canyon through the mountain climbing and descending as the need arises with sheer drops to the water below. Again the gears get a good work out. Scenery spectacular when I could glance at it since images of Greece do not usually include pristine snow capped mountains and rocky canyons.

The most ‘interesting’ part of the journey as when ahead we could see a rock shelf extending over the whole width of the road with water cascading off all sides of it. Obviously we can only drive into the waterfall the, blackness! The car lights on this car obviously do not come on in the dark like I am used to. There is a rock wall ahead and then a glimpse of light from the right indicating that I needed to veer right further into the mountain to go through a short tunnel before breaking through another waterfall back onto the open road. A weird experience and we were sorry we had not taken photos of it but it all happened so fast that we didn’t think to get the camera out and there was no way we could turn around on this narrow mountain road and go back and get the shot. It will just have to stay as an image in our memories as one of the more interesting parts of our travels on a Greek roads.

( it was such an eerie experience …water everywhere cascading over the rocks in this one section only and you disappear into this black hole…and you think you at going to literally hit a wall…and then it converts into a tunnel….quite a scary experience for the tourist driver )

After many more twists and turns, we arrive in Kalamatas at about the time the GPS had said – 1hr 20 min’s to do 60kms. We drove around until we found the first reasonable looking hotel we could find. Turned out to be a lovely 3-4star hotel with a good shower so we took it – 80€/ night with breakfast – still cheap on European standards.

I was tired from the protracted periods of hard driving so we walked along the seafront, took a few photos, had a wine and beer and then went looking for somewhere to eat. Ended up at an empty restaurant where we ordered a meal. We were their only customers for the night and they closed as soon as we finished eating – we left a tip since they are doing it hard economically.

Hot shower and bed! We had covered three historical epochs – Mycenaean, Roman and Byzantine in one day!