I knew how to get out of Athens even tho we got sucked into Athens traffic and it woukd take awhile to get out, but Al still panicked. And we got out Athens just fine.

The fact remains that we still ended up going through Athens. And, anger at the navigator is often mistaken for panic...

This canal actually made the pelopenesia peninsula into an island. This canal was dug in the 19th Century.

It was a pretty view during the hike. It is not my fault Andrew gave me the wrong instruction regarding parking!

The Roman ruins were neat.

Corinth
 
 
Prelude
Arrival
Glyfada
Sunion
Aegina
Corinth
Mycenae
Epidarros & Naphlion
Olympia
To Delphi
Exploring Delphi
To Crete
Hania
Samarian Gorge
Knossos
Iraklion
Athens Day 1
Athens Day 2
The End
Greece Photos!
  

Acrocorinth -- Αρχαια Κορινθοσ


Up early to miss some Athens traffic, we ate a quick breakfast, checked out, and loaded up Big Red. Our route would take us around the outskirts of Athens, and onto the national highway. With my trusty navigator in my head, and a backup one at my side, we embarked on a journey which, if executed correctly, would make sure we didn't have to drive in Athens at all. And it worked out perfectly, of course, and we got to our destinations, saw lots of piles of rocks, had a great time, and then came back to Chicago.

The End.

Yeah, right. Somehow we missed the turn. Surprising, huh? Do you remember that part of Athens that I was really, really glad we wouldn't have to drive though? Well, there on our right was the Parliament building (and yes, the tomb of the unknown soldier), and there on our left was the plaza with the smarmy travel agent guy. And there on my right was a wife yelling at me to get into that lane, but I obviously can't get into that lane in time woman! And you should have told me earlier! What do you mean you tried to tell me? I'm trying to get out of this hellish situation! Alright, alright! Left, right, stop, straight, and we're out! And happy again.

 
It's actually much deeper than it looks. Really.
We stopped at the Corinth canal on our way to the Acrocorinth fortress. They dug a tremendously deep canal to connect the Corinth Gulf to the Mediterranean (they said the Roman emperor Nero even attempted to build it here first). I don't think it is used much anymore for shipping (it seemed pretty narrow), but you can bungee jump there now. That would probably be wicked cool.

Got some lunch there, and then started driving towards the Acrocorinth. I was pretty psyched about this trip. The Acrocorinth was an ancient fortress that sounded pretty money, and below it at the foot of the mountain it was on was the ancient Roman city of Corinth. For you Catholics out there, when Paul was writing those letters to the Corinthians, the postman dropped them off right where we were heading.

Lin-Wei had it in her mind that you had to walk up some hill to get to the fortress. She heard that from our friend Andy the Greek. I asked if she was sure. She was sure. So as we were driving, and I noticed a huge mountain in the distance with what seemed like a fortress on top,

 
Yes. We walked all the way to the top!
I immediately dismissed it, since that couldn't be Acrocorinth. But, as we got closer it seemed like our road was definitely heading in that direction. Finally, we were at the site, right below the huge mountain. We inquired at the ticket booth in the Roman part of the site about Acrocorinth tickets, but they said it was free to go to the fortress. Sweet! But when we said we were going to hike up there they kinda paused a little bit, they looked at each other, and said it was really far, but we were up for it. Adventure! I did try to get a motion for driving up there passed, but it was vetoed soundly. "Andy said he hiked up there. I think that's what we have to do. So let's go!"

Long story short: That was a long-ass hike. Tons of winding roads, and it was really hot. We saw a couple on bikes heading up, but they had to walk their bikes after a while. We drank a ton of water on the way up, too. And interestingly enough... we kept getting passed by cars and busses heading up the mountain. My pointed glances at Lin-wei were answered with shrugs of indifference. At one point we even had to rest in a small shadow created by the road above us, and try to ration what we had left of water.

 
The "top"
After an hour we finally reached the top. Well, it wasn't actually the top. What we had reached was the end of the road. The road ended in a parking lot. The parking lot was filled with cars and buses that once held tourists. Smart tourists, who drove up here. They were now climbing into the castle, totally refreshed. And they would need to be. The Acrocorinth, while being extremely impressive and breath-taking, was also very steep. It took us another hour to finally reach the top of the fortress. That was steep, man. Dang. But also exhilarating. When I thought about where we had started--hell, I could see where we started. It was a small speck way below us, in the distance--I felt pretty damn good. And the view from the top was spectacular. I could see why this was such a sought-after strategic point. You could see for miles or furlongs or whatever from up there. This view shows how much higher we had just climbed, once we reached the first "top" of the climb.

Going back down was a little more fun. We stocked up on more water and juice at the gift shop, and, lucky us, got to hike back down the mountain while cars full of happy, smiling, now-resting tourists drove by us. So smug they were, as they spit on us as they drove by. Grrr.... I envied them.

 
More Roman water distribution.
We considered giving the Roman city a miss after we got down from the mountain, but we shrugged off some fatigue and took a tour of the ruins. We had a bite to eat afterwards, and then got in Big Red and set our course for the south. For the next three nights we'd be staying in Naphlio (aka Naflion, Naphlion, etc..) which Andy described as a really cool harbor town with a relaxed attitude. I was totally up for that, but I know Lin-Wei got nervous whenever she heard the word "relax".

Our hotel was not easy to find there. We actually had to drive up the wall of the old fortress, go around a blind curve that was only one car wide and had a curved mirror so you could see around the corner, park high above it, and climb down a bunch of stairs to get there. But we had a great room with a great view. I bounded into the bathroom hoping for an absence of the little trash can, but I was to be disappointed. But the shower had a hook so you could hang up the showerhead, so that was a bonus. The view from our room overlooked the harbor and the city below. It rocked.

Naphlio

 
Naphlio at night
The town of Naflio lived up to expectations, and then some. It had the harbor feel of the Cinque Terre, the organic, lively feel of Montpellier, and the remote beauty of Annecy all rolled into one. We dressed up and headed down about a thousand stairs to the fun part of town and found a restaurant. The meal was decent, but the best part was when one of the waiters was standing in the doorway (we ate outside) trying to shoo a cat away. He was waving his arms to and fro, and as we watched him, I saw the other waiter coming from behind him carrying two plates of food. It was like slow motion. We all knew it was going to happen, so it was interesting to see it play out. As the second waiter tried to get around the first, the arm came down onto the plate of food, and everything went crashing to the ground. It was pretty funny. Until we realized it was our food. Dammit!

We found a kick-ass Internet cafe-type place that night. I checked my email to see if we heard back from our Hania hotel about the change in plans, but there was no reply. So we went to bed.