Ancient Theatre of Epidavros

Leaving Nafplio, we headed west about 35 kms to Epidavros (or Epidaurus as it is also known as).  We knew it was a big tourist attraction but pulling up to the entrance late morning we hadn't expected to see as many as 5 coaches already parked up.  For 6 euros you get entrance to the theatre, museum and sanctuary.

Epidaurus has a stunning ancient theatre, built around 330-320 BC.  It was constructed with mathematical precision and near-perfect acoustics. We read that you can stand on the circle in the middle of the stage area and drop a coin and hear it in the highest of the 54 tiers - we didn't see anyone demonstrate this though. With a seating capacity of 14,000 it has some fantastic views across the landscape and although it has been repaired in places you can’t fail to be impressed with the size of it, especially when stood at the top.

Along with a Japanese coach tour - spotted with all their selfie sticks, we were joined by a large group of Italian students.  Their teacher demonstrated on stage the acoustics best by doing short bursts of clapping all around her body.  Funny to watch but got the 'acoustic point' across well.  Then a lot of the students decided they wanted to be 'wanna be Pavarotti's' and started standing on the spot trying to do their best impersonation.  The embarrassed teacher told them to shut up and sit down - well I think that is what she said because they soon did as they were told!

They're not very comfortable these ancient theatre seats!

Mel ready to perform to anyone who will listen!

Every year the summer festival of Epidaurus presents tragedies and comedies written by the most famous ancient theatrical authors although with the funding cut, these have apparently become less and less.  The small 2-room museum houses very little.  Some figures/statues, which are nearly all plaster copies (most originals are housed in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens) and some parts of the sanctuary, but again most of the original parts are missing and filled in with plaster.  So for us it kinds of defeats the object of being a museum.  There are a few rusty surgical instruments discovered in the Sanctuary and a couple of original stone tablets of who had been cured there, so that just about claws back the museum status.

The museum of missing parts! There are a few brown bits (originals) and the missing parts filled in with white plaster. Mel, stood in the middle is mostly original by the way!

Alongside the theatre is the Asclepian sanctuary, known as the most important healing centre of ancient Greece.  Dedicated to Asclepios (the god of healing), patients used to lie and wait for a visit from the healing god believed to assume the form of a serpent - his (Asclepio) symbol of the staff and serpent are still seen today on ambulances and on the logo of the World Health Organisation.  There are information boards around the site to tell you what it was in the day – Temple of Asclepios, Greek baths, gymnasium, healing rooms, guest houses and a stadium.

The Temple - more restored white bits than original brown!

A round building known as Tholos, with its inner foundation walls formed a labyrinth that is thought to have been used as a snake pit.  Theories are that the snakes were used as a primitive kind of shock therapy for the mentally ill who visited here for a cure. 

Some restoration work has been carried out but stopped around 2010 – scaffolding still remains up though which is a shame!

It was also known for hosting ancient games.  Today controlled school track and field events take place here.  A fusion of modern and ancient athletics.

The site is as large as that of Olympia and Delphi but having visited both of these sites this one unfortunately didn't hold any fascination for us.  A short drive of 11kms took us to the small fishing village of Palaia Epidaurus, where we parked up. (N37.63705 E23.15731).  Arriving at the village we were surprised to see signs to another Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus.

A 10minute walk through the village and around the orange/tangerine groves took us the small theatre.  It was all fenced off and nothing on the scale of the Theatre of Epidavros, however, there was a little purpose built stage so guessing they hold performances in the summer.

Little theatre of Ancient Epidaurus

It never fails to amuse us that the Greeks like to put ‘Ancient’ in front of a lot of things to attract the tourists and we stumbled across this sign - 'Ancient Staircase. What the heck is one of those!

Out of curiosity we follow it up 20 metres or so, only for it to come to a pile of stones on the floor.

Mel making his way up the 'ancient staircase'

Getting back to the motorhome, we spotted another motorhome further round the port so we decided to moved.  It turned out to be an English one but there was nobody home.  We parked up for the night (N37.636906 E23.16189) and it wasn’t long before we were joined by a Dutch camper and Belgium motorhome.

Great view from Sonny’s window

This morning we woke up to a very grey, wet and windy day.  We sat and had breakfast and coffee in bed and eventually dragged ourselves out of our pit about 10ish.  We moved back to our original parking spot, closer to the village.  

The grey clouds remained all day over Sonny!

After showers we had a mooch around to get a few provisions in.  There is a local supermarket and 3 bakeries - no idea why they need that many in such a small village!   We managed to get in a couple of more walks in between the rain and enjoy a few cheeky wines in the local taverna.  Well, what else is there to do on days like this haha!

Sally x

Nafplio – first capital city of modern Greece

We had a bit of a rough night at Sampatiki.  Zeus decided to act all ‘God like’ and send thunder and lightening, and rain – lots of it!  We knew it was coming, having checked the weather forecast on google and had put our ear plugs in so we would get a good nights sleep.  However, the rain was that loud on Sonny’s roof that we woke up a few times.  At one point I woke up and told Mel someone was banging on the door.  Mel got up to check, only to realise I had been dreaming and it was probably the thunder that had woken me.  We eventually surfaced around 8ish and after our feast at the taverna the night before we didn’t want any breakfast.  It was a cup of hot lemon each to detox and some coffee and then we were on our way to Nafplio.  Moving off the 3^rd peninsular onto the thumb!  The rain still kept coming on and off and we saw a couple of lovely rainbows.

Somewhere over the rainbow.....

The sun eventually came out, and it was a lovely 45 mile route around the coast to Nafplio. We parked up by the port (N37.57117 E22.80095), overlooking the Bourtzi Fortress.

Nafplio Port, overlooking Bourtzi Fortress

After a quick bite to eat, we headed out for a walk along the harbour, where there were a few boats parked up offering day trips.  Plus, a couple of tourist trains sit at the end of the walkway - but no tourists to take around the town this time of year.  From here you get a good view across to Bourtzi, that sits on a little islet in the middle of the harbour.  It is the town’s third fort and was built in 1473 by the Venetians to control the shipping lane to the town.  It remained a fortress until 1865, and was then used as many things before being converted into a hotel.  Our Rough Guide book tells us that Bourtzi is the most photographed in Nafplio.  So, not wanting it to loose its ranking status, I took a few photos of it!

Bourtzi Fortress

Bourtzi with a large sailing boat just leaving the harbour. It had a Union Jack flag on the back, so guessing they are Brits.

The old town is full of pretty streets, with some very upmarket shops.  You can tell some money has been spent on it and clearly gets a lot of tourist in the summer months.

There are 4 museums here – archaeological, folklore, war and a Komboloi museum

We had never heard of Komboloi.  It is a collection of worry beads and rosaries from Greece, the Middle and Far East and parts of Western Europe.  Apparently the Komboloi (worry beads) is one of the most famous features of Greek life, used to relieve stress.  Made from various materials some date from 1550.

The Lion of St Mark from the Venetian days in the main square

Mosque and Turkish fountain

Shops cashing in on that famous Greek philosopher!

Loved this cute display

The funniest part of the day was that we spent about 20 minutes wandering up and down the streets looking for the church of Saint Spyridhon.  The first president of Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrias was assassinated on the doorstep of the church on Sunday 27 September 1931.  Shot and killed by a couple of vengeful Maniot clansmen and our guide book said the church still had the scars in the stone let by the bullets.  But when we eventually found it, boy was it a disappointment.

Yep, this is it - The finger marks the spot of the remains of the bullet hole!

By this time it was getting too late to visit the Palamidi and Akronafplia fortresses on the hill, so we headed back to the motorhome and decided to tackle them the next day.  When we got back there was one other motorhome parked up (Greek) at the harbour and a few fishermen.  There was a Brit camper there earlier in the day, who we had got talking to but he told us that he was moving on, to the beach. The next day we walked to the top of the Palamidi Fortress - 999 steps (according to locals) to the top.  It's Nafplio’s principal fort and was built by the Venetians between 1711 and 1714.  It was a steep climb, you can actually drive to the top but we needed the exercise.

Palamidi Fortress, high on the hill

Palamidi takes its name from Palamedes (Nafplio's famous legendary son), who was responsible for a range of inventions including dice, lighthouses and measuring scales -according to mythology!

It’s a lot of steps to climb.  I didn't count them but it felt a lot more than 999!

Having a rest before the final push to the top

It costs €4 to go in and walk around the fortress but there isn’t a lot to see and given that we have already walked around umpteen fortresses in Greece over the last 7 weeks we decided not to go in but just to admire the views from the top.

A factory on the outskirts of Nafplio burns the remains of the olive trees (once the olives have been picked from them) to make a bi-product.  Unfortunately. that means from October-December (picking season) it produces smog across the town.

Akronafplia to the west of Palamidi is another fort occupying the ancient acropolis.  Most of it lies in ruins, although the end of the lower part of the castle was converted to a hotel. Once again as is the history of Greece, the fort went through a change of hands following sieges from Byzantine to Ottoman occupation.

We got chatting to a Greek man who was wandering around the site.  His English was very good and he told us he is married to an English lady from Hemel Hempstead (which is near to where I used to live - small world).  He met her 54 years ago when she was out visiting the country. He said it had been 25 years since he was last here and nothing had changed.  It was still crumbling away and the hotel was closed.  Apparently, the hotels used to be owned by the government and they were pocketing all the money and so when the crisis came, they all closed.  He did say that things were improving financially in Greece but very slowly.  From Nafplio, we have moved from the harbour a few miles around the coast to Karathonas beach.  

Times must be hard here, as they have made their own walkways to the boats using old pallets

The weather isn't brilliant but there are a couple of people swimming, some joggers, a couple of camper vans and of course a wild dog!  For us, it's just a quick stroll along the lovely sandy beach before the rain comes again!

Sally x

The Medieval Rock of Monemvasia – The Gibraltar of the East

Leaving  Kokkinea we wiggled around the roads for a short distance of 26 miles (41.5 kms) south to Monemvasia.  The rock looms high out of the sea as we approach.  It was founded by the Byzantines in the 6^th century and was an impenetrable stronghold and the last outpost of the Peloponnese to fall under siege.  The rock is traffic free and so we parked up by the sea wall, just before the causeway at Yefira (N36.68860 E23.03660). There are a few 'no overnight camping/caravan signs where we are parked up and both sides of the causeway.  Regardless if there are signs up, we know wild camping is illegal in Greece but also know this time of year the police don't move you on (hopefully!) as there are hardly any motorhomes/campers around plus, most of the campsites are closed now so there is little choice.

Our great view of the rock of Monemvasia

The name Monemvasia derives from the Greek words ‘single entrance’.  As an island the only way in and out is across the short causeway.  From here it’s about 1km to walk to the entrance of the medieval site, which is built on the seaward face of the rock so nothing is revealed until you get right around the rock.  Like Mystra (where we visited a little over a week ago) the fortified town is split into an upper and a lower town.

Lower town, that continues to be restored

Entrance gate into the upper town

We took the steep route to the upper town first – about a 20 minute walk.  The site is one big sprawling ruin, most of which is unrestored, although a lot of structures are intact with information boards.  The place was deserted, it would seem most people choose to stay in the lower town as it is quite a hike up to the hill top citadel.

A mass of remains as we climb to the top, including a Mausoleum (built 1540-1690 during Turkish rule), vast cisterns that ensured there was a water supply in times of siege,  and a mix of old houses and churches.

Remains of the citadel on the edge of the rock

Walled stairway to nowhere!  But you do get a great view of the lower town below

Ayia Sofia - 13th century restored church

The other end of the rock. Careful Mel, it's a long way down!

The streets are steep and narrow from the lower to the upper town. There are a few beautique hotels and guest houses but goodness knows how they get their luggage up and down as no traffic is allowed in – maybe by donkey?  We didn't see any though!

The lower town is very touristy.  Lots of tat shops selling jewellery and religious stuff and of course umpteen bars, tavernas etc charging for overpriced food and drink. It is a pretty place though to wander around. Just as we were leaving a coach load of tourists were making their way in.  I can imagine in summer you can't move for tourists.

Lower town main square

We chose to head back across the causeway, to the little town of Yefira and enjoyed a lovely drink of wine and nibbles there!

Enjoying a posh glass of wine overlooking the Rock. Has anyone noticed that Mel has had a haircut?  All done by my fair hands!

Caught this little fella lurking around the streets of Yefira – Christmas must be on its way!

It was a long and slow journey for us the next day - 76 miles (121kms) that took just over 3 hours, through narrow villages, up steep mountains and into gorges.  We retraced some of the road we had taken to get to Monemvasia, as there is only one main road south and north.  Destination Leonidio.

As we climbed to 1,900 metres, we were in the clouds, with a bit of rain and could hardly see in front of Sonny’s bonnet!

Fortunately the weather brightened up and we got some stunning views as we went through the huge Dhafnon gorge. The roads are really steep and winding and we were surprised to see a few cyclists attempting to get up it.

The zig-zag road below

Sat Nav showing hairpin bends ahead - lots of them!

Sheer drops to where we are heading. 

Monastery Elonas - these monks must of had incredible building skills to build their monasteries on overhanging cliffs.  Stunning location for this one!

Gigantic red cliffs overlook Leonidio.   Reminded us of parts of the rock in the Grand Canyon.

There are signs for caravans/motorhomes to not go through the town, but to turn right as it is barely wide enough for one car

Our little spot for the night - Sampatiki (N37.18934 E22.90933) a few kms north of Leonidio.

You can just about spot Sonny at the top in the trees, overlooking the small port and village

There isn't a lot here other than a pretty port and beach and taverna with great food.  We enjoyed eggplant saganaki (they are known for their unique eggplants in this area, light purple with white strips), Greek salad, and large plates of pork and chicken gyros - we could see into the kitchen and watch it all being freshly made.

Once again we ordered far too much food but when it's so cheap its difficult to know how much you are going to get. With our waistlines expanding we have decided that the next few days is going to involve plenty of exercise for us and a low intake if food!

Sally x