Breakfast was at 7am and the food was plentiful and varied. 

The sunrise promised another beautiful day for our adventures. 

After checkout, we boarded the bus for the short trip to the Olympia archaeological site. No climbing stairs today but a nice walk through a vast area.

There were many tour groups but they were very spread out so no sense of overcrowding. Maria K was exceptional with her informative commentary. I learnt that the Romans used bricks but the Greeks only used stones so it was easy to identify the architects.

It was a magnificent place with lots of peaceful ruins and greenery until the grass cutters started😆.

We were shown where the Olympic flame is celebrated in this destination every 4 years.

Finishing in the outdoor site we moved onto the Olympic museum to observe many artefacts and impressive artworks from Greek history.

The tour then gave us some free time to either have lunch or explore the small village. Maria K suggested one of only 2 cafes she would recommend and it was a hit! The Ambrosia Garden served quality Greek food in a lovely outdoor setting.

Back on the bus at 1pm we had a 3 hour journey ahead to reach our next destination, Delphì.

We had to cross the Rio–Antirrio Bridge, officially the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge. It crosses the Gulf of Corinth, linking Rio on the Peloponnese with Antirrio on mainland Greece. It opened to traffic on 12 August 2004, just before the Athens Olympics. It is spectacular — about 2.9 km long, with four enormous pylons, and was one of the world’s major engineering achievements because the area is highly seismic and the seabed is very deep and unstable. 

Chiliadou Marina is a mini fortress in a small village that we drove through.

Then we followed the coastline while seeing the  Peloponnese part of Greece across the Gulf of Corinth. Lots of small villages hug the coastline and everywhere is a photo opportunity but the beauty isn’t captured easily.

Closer to Delphì we started climbing up into the mountains on roads that forced Teresa to avert her eyes.

Delphi is perched high on a mountainside with very narrow streets. The bus had to unload quickly to avoid being yelled at by motorists. We collected our room keys for the Leto Hotel and then listened to our briefing for dinner and for tomorrow before having some free time.

I went to find some make up wipes that I forgot to pack when I was stalked by a cat soon as I went on the street!

A walk to the street below managed to find me a supermarket with what I needed. 

The Leto Hotel has a rooftop deck where we found ourselves gathering for a drink and a view of the mountains.

We watched the sunset from this amazing location.

Our dinner tonight was a set menu of traditional Greek dishes at the Tavern DION restaurant across the road.

🥬 Hortopita – a homemade pie with wild greens

🥗 Horiatiki – the classic Greek salad

🍋Lemon pork with tagliatelle

🍯 Loukoumades – Greek honey doughnuts for dessert.

The tomatoes tasted like real tomatoes, but there was no feta cheese on the classic Greek salad. The food was okay but obviously prepared for a tour group.

Only water was offered and we did not get asked for any drink orders. The conversations flowed nicely over dinner and the day’s activities were met with positive reviews.

Kalinýchta

Early start, breakfast at 6:30 and then checkout at 7:45 am. (Goodbye Acropolis view).

We walked down the street to the main roads with our luggage and boarded our tour bus with Christos the driver. We drove past some more historic sites before driving out of Athens for our next location, the Corinthian Canal.

There were more tour buses and tourists but we managed to cross the bridge and take photos before Maria K explained the significance to commerce of this engineering, joining the Adriatic to the Aegean as a shortcut. These days it is mainly used by private boats because it is not very deep.

We enjoyed clear skies with a temperature of 24C. Optus roaming has been disappointing again but soon as I wrote this yesterday I had 5G! Go figure?

On our way to Epidauros the bus ascended up along the coast and the views were amazing. The road was very winding as we hugged the Aegean coastline.

The theatre was very spectacular. We were taken through an explanation of the acoustics. There was also a museum which included some impressive stone work. We also passed a number of stray dogs and cats.

We stopped at a lovely Greek restaurant where the service was efficient and the food was good. We loved the dog and cats wandering around the establishment. The temp rose to 27C.

Bus left and then realised that Catherine and Russell had been left behind…..lucky we realised only a couple of blocks down the road.

Our next stop was beautiful Nafplio. OMG what a pretty town! It was the first capital of Greece. It is now obviously a tourist city with lots of shopping and cafes near the water’s edge.

After Nafplion we travelled through the Central Peloponnese, passing the towns of Tripolis and Megalopolis en route to Olympia.

The hours long journeys were a great opportunity to write the blog so I only had to upload it when I got to the hotel. It also gave me time to edit my photos ready for the block! We had a rest stop at Zevgolateio.

Hotel Europa was our accommodation for the night and it was reached at the top of some very thin and winding roads.

Dinner was provided as part of the tour in the form of a buffet but the smells coming from the kitchen were delectable.

Kalinýchta

Our tour guide is Maria Katerina. This group consisted of Catherine & Russell from NZ, Cheryl, Joyce and Frank from Perth, Judy from Sydney, Gail &  Rachael from California, young couple Jackson & Ketana from Rockingham and Henry & Gisa from Noosa. A WhatsApp group was created for our tour communication.

We had a large selection of hot, cold and traditional foods for breakfast. 

The tour started at 8:30 am for us to walk to Constitution Street where we met the bus with Christos our driver. The bus cannot navigate the narrow streets of this hotel area.

I took the opportunity to organise a group photo before we started the tour, Jackson happy to take the selfie.

There were some fund raising events happening so there was an obvious police presence along many areas of Athens. Like in Germany, shops here are closed on Sundays except in the major tourist areas.  

The bus drove us past some historic sites of Athens before reaching our destination of the Acropolis. 

I needed to buy a bottle of water and was told by Maria K that it will cost 50cent. When I got to the kiosk I only had the option of paying €3 for the bottle of sparkling water I found. I asked about the 50c water and the young boy behind the counter said that they didn’t have any small bottles. Maria K explained that it is illegal to not have 50c water in all Greek establishments and I could’ve taken the police to them  who would make an arrest if they couldn’t supply the required 50c water bottle.

It was too late to do that as we had started walking up the gentle sloped marble path to the Acropolis. It was important to have non slip shoes for this part of the tour because of the prolific use of marble underfoot. 

Apparently there were many cruise ships in dock and this created a surge of visitors to the ancient site….oh the humanity! I did enjoy though that I could hear a variety of languages informing their particular group.

Once at the stairs, heaving with people, there were no railings to hold onto so people with balance issues would struggle with this part of the ascent. There was a breeze but not as cold as yesterday, so layers were a good rule for the day. The temperature was around 22C. These pieces of ancient architecture were very impressive.

In 2009 an Acropolis museum was opened that housed many relics that have been excavated. We were told that this venue was also created so any items pillaged from this area could be returned like those in the British museum. They are still waiting for them.

There is also a glass floor which exposed the excavations and levels below. It is not recommended to wear a skirt or dress as there are so many places for exposure. It is also a bit freaky to see down but the glass is covered in dots so it reduces the feeling of nothing beneath you.

Maria K made it very interesting with her commentary and historical knowledge. This was a good size for our group and everyone was cooperative, friendly and punctual.

This part of the tour ended at around 1:30 pm and we had the rest of the day to ourselves. This was a good opportunity to rest for a bit, eat lunch and do the blog.

I asked Chat if I can find a place to buy some eyelash serum and it informed me that there was a Sephora not far from the hotel. Because we were in a tourist area, shops were open here. Once I found the shop, they didn’t have the lash serum with a ‘we don’t sell that anymore’! Apparently the EEU have the same rules as Australia in regard to these serums. 

So then I saw some sparkling jeans, that I didn’t need, in a store window which I had to investigate. I did not buy them. There were many people milling around shops or sitting in cafes enjoying the afternoon.

Before returning to the hotel, I went to the supermarket to stock up on sparkling water and supplies for the next few days.

A couple of things I recommend for any trip are to bring some zip lock bags that can be used to store food or other items safely. I also have a pair of folding mini scissors which must be packed in checked luggage but come in so handy for so many reasons.

After all the activity of the day, an early night was planned as we had an early breakfast and start for the next part of the tour tomorrow. Kalinýchta

The Air New Zealand lounge at Sydney airport was the offering for this flight. There was a nice selection of foods.

The flight was not full so musical chairs was the order of the day. I moved to the row in front of me so I had a row to myself but the hand rails couldn’t be raised. It was ok though as I could spread out and had access to extra pillows and blankets.

Doha airport is very big and we were bussed to the C section of the airport where I navigated to find the lounge to while away the next couple of hours.

We boarded the plane at Doha and it was full. The plane was very ‘foggy’ until we took off because of the humidity.

We arrived in a wet and windy Athens. It took me about 2 minutes to exit passport control as an EU member, the non EU line was enormous (smug) and my bag was already on the carousel so from disembarking the plane to getting my Uber took about 20 minutes. I easily withdrew some Euros at an ATM still in the airport. Uber here operate as taxis. I booked through Uber App and there is an Uber meeting point outside exit 4 of arrivals. My trip cost 53 euros and took about 40 minutes to get the the Hotel Plaka. The roads are great and there was very little traffic.

I love Euro radio stations as The Cure ‘Love Song’, Duran Duran’s ‘Come Undone’ and Supertramp’s Logical Song were played as we drive to Plaka.

It was too early to check in so Hotel Plaka stored my luggage and recommended Ergonhouse, about 5 minutes walk down the road for coffee and a bite to eat.

I then started to walk around streets and kept the Acropolis as a point of reference. It looms large above the city. It was obviously part of the tourist area as I saw groups being led around and I felt safe. I ended up walking down this lovely marble based wide street that went past the Acropolis Museum and the actual Acropolis.

Time for sleep

I noticed that the Hop on and Hop off Bus tour departed from this point so I bought a ticket because I had quite a few hours to fill in before I could get into my room at the hotel.

After the Athens bus tour I joined the Athens Riviera tour.

I was challenged by the fact that my iPhone died before the end of this tour. I didn’t even think to take my portable powerbank on the day.

But I found my way amazingly by keeping the Acropolis as a reference point. And just when I thought I needed to ask someone, I found myself near the Ergon House where I had breakfast! My room was on the 6th floor and when I opened the curtains, there was the Acropolis and Parthenon… wow! Didn’t expect that.

6pm we had a meeting of the small group for our Inspiring Vacations Greece tour. Mainly older people but we do have a young couple as well. There are 13 of us plus our guide. Communication is good through a Whatsapp group plus signage in the foyer.

It was so special to sit in my room for the evening and watch the sky change colour over the ancient ruins! I needed to sleep to readjust my time clock. The ruins were being lit up for the evening. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking someone had left a light on, only to realise that it was the lights of the ruins because I kept my blinds open.

 

Time for sleep. Kalinýchta