Wednesday, October 13, 2004
update from napflion (greece)
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 09:54:28 -0700 (PDT)
I think I left you in our little story on the day before we went to
Delos....
The next day we got up sort of early and got the boat to Delos at about
11:30. Delos was a huge ancient site. supposedly the birthplace of the twins
apollo and hmm cant remember which one was his sister but anyway. We looked
around the ruins a little and in the museum. It was pretty impressive
really, but the island been plundered so many times that most of it looked
like just a big pile of rocks, or else a junkyard for bits of unused
columns. The musuem had some cool stuff though. Then we went back to town on
the really slow boat, and watched the sun set next to the old windmills. The
next day we hung out at the beach, did some laundry, slept in etc. We both
got sunburns a little. not too bad becuase i was careful to limit our time
outside, but we only had a little sunblock (GD people, the sunblock from
those united way packets - we had like 3 each). Then the next day we took
the boat back to the port of Rafina outside of athens, then took a bus to
athens, then a train to corinth.
That was an all day affair. the boat was slow, the train was slower, and
the bus was just annoying. but the good news is that there are two train
stations in athens and the first one we walked into there were like 100
people pushing to get to the two ticket windows, no lines, just a big mob.
lucky for us we needed to go to the toher one. I found that out from
information. so we stayed at this great hotel in corinth only 37 euro for
the night with our own bath adn it was clean and nice. our room was a little
small, but hey, clean nice and only 37 euro, cant ask for more. So in the
morning we caught a bus to ancient corinth. ok so the mornin was like 12
becuase they had blackout curtains on our little window that faces another
wall anyway, so we didnt realize what time it was. The ruins of ancient
corinth were interesting but not hugely impressive. then we had lunch. after
lunch we asked these two american girls that we had run into and were
sitting in the next restaurant over, if
they wanted to share a cab with us up to the top of acrocorinth where
there was a fortress and some more ruins and great views. they did, so we
waited and waited for a cab, found out it was siesta time and they were all
sleeping, caalled the cab company, waited out a rainstorm and finally got a
cab to the top. We were really glad we did, it was really interesting. the
ruins were mostly turkish and so they were not as ancient as the ones below
(there used to be ancient ones up there but the turks destroyed them to
build their citadel.) but the view was great and the castle was pretty cool
and we were a little more free to explore the area. It turns out that the
girls were staying at the same place as us! We got a ride down from this
really nice older guy that we met up there then we rode the bus back and
went to dinner with the girls we met. Then tne next morning we were to catch
the 9am train to napflion - which is the same place those girls were going
and we were staying at the
same place (it was the only one in the letsgo guide book so it really isnt
all that coincidental) so we met up with them at the train station too and
found our way to our new hotel togehter. It is refreshing to talk to someone
else who speaks english other than each other. After we all checked in (at
this pension that is only 25 euro a night!) we went for brunch then climbed
the 800+ stairs to the citadel above the city. That was awesome becuase
there was no one around to yell at us for poking around and these ruins were
more recent like 1400-1700 so there was more left of them. Plus the views
over the mountains, the city and the sea were incredible. Then we walked
around the old town had dinner. Tommorrow we are going to mycenae, I cant
wait! the ruins there are supposed to be spectacular, then on to athens!
Meg and Seth
I think I left you in our little story on the day before we went to
Delos....
The next day we got up sort of early and got the boat to Delos at about
11:30. Delos was a huge ancient site. supposedly the birthplace of the twins
apollo and hmm cant remember which one was his sister but anyway. We looked
around the ruins a little and in the museum. It was pretty impressive
really, but the island been plundered so many times that most of it looked
like just a big pile of rocks, or else a junkyard for bits of unused
columns. The musuem had some cool stuff though. Then we went back to town on
the really slow boat, and watched the sun set next to the old windmills. The
next day we hung out at the beach, did some laundry, slept in etc. We both
got sunburns a little. not too bad becuase i was careful to limit our time
outside, but we only had a little sunblock (GD people, the sunblock from
those united way packets - we had like 3 each). Then the next day we took
the boat back to the port of Rafina outside of athens, then took a bus to
athens, then a train to corinth.
That was an all day affair. the boat was slow, the train was slower, and
the bus was just annoying. but the good news is that there are two train
stations in athens and the first one we walked into there were like 100
people pushing to get to the two ticket windows, no lines, just a big mob.
lucky for us we needed to go to the toher one. I found that out from
information. so we stayed at this great hotel in corinth only 37 euro for
the night with our own bath adn it was clean and nice. our room was a little
small, but hey, clean nice and only 37 euro, cant ask for more. So in the
morning we caught a bus to ancient corinth. ok so the mornin was like 12
becuase they had blackout curtains on our little window that faces another
wall anyway, so we didnt realize what time it was. The ruins of ancient
corinth were interesting but not hugely impressive. then we had lunch. after
lunch we asked these two american girls that we had run into and were
sitting in the next restaurant over, if
they wanted to share a cab with us up to the top of acrocorinth where
there was a fortress and some more ruins and great views. they did, so we
waited and waited for a cab, found out it was siesta time and they were all
sleeping, caalled the cab company, waited out a rainstorm and finally got a
cab to the top. We were really glad we did, it was really interesting. the
ruins were mostly turkish and so they were not as ancient as the ones below
(there used to be ancient ones up there but the turks destroyed them to
build their citadel.) but the view was great and the castle was pretty cool
and we were a little more free to explore the area. It turns out that the
girls were staying at the same place as us! We got a ride down from this
really nice older guy that we met up there then we rode the bus back and
went to dinner with the girls we met. Then tne next morning we were to catch
the 9am train to napflion - which is the same place those girls were going
and we were staying at the
same place (it was the only one in the letsgo guide book so it really isnt
all that coincidental) so we met up with them at the train station too and
found our way to our new hotel togehter. It is refreshing to talk to someone
else who speaks english other than each other. After we all checked in (at
this pension that is only 25 euro a night!) we went for brunch then climbed
the 800+ stairs to the citadel above the city. That was awesome becuase
there was no one around to yell at us for poking around and these ruins were
more recent like 1400-1700 so there was more left of them. Plus the views
over the mountains, the city and the sea were incredible. Then we walked
around the old town had dinner. Tommorrow we are going to mycenae, I cant
wait! the ruins there are supposed to be spectacular, then on to athens!
Meg and Seth
