lilydarais – Page 15

Nafplion to Monemvasia

By our hotel, the Klyemeni Traditional Homes, there was a small orange orchard. The manager told us the oranges were not yet ripe but that we could help ourselves. I told the kids to only pick one orange each, but after we tasted the oranges a day later, we realized that they should have picked a bushel. They were the best oranges all of us had ever had! They were slightly tart, but the complexity was incredibly refreshing.

The pretty streets of Nafplion where we shopped and ate breakfast.

At breakfast, Clarissa loved her orange juice and tried to lick every last drop!

The central square was alive with activity, including children playing

After breakfast and shopping we rode a choo choo tram around and sort of listened to the (very soft) narration that described the landmarks of Nafplion.

We were a little distracted by this kind of cuteness.

Monemvasia

These are Ammon’s and Clarissa’s bed in a tiny nook above the room where Abe and I slept in the old castle. It was adorable and even had a hobbit like door leading to it.

Our hotel rooms were right across from an old church.

Stairs leading from our bedroom to the bathroom and Ammon’s and Clarissa’s room.

After checking in and eating dinner (including the most delicious sea bream fish I have ever had), we walked the old steps up to the top of the town. We turned around before reaching the upper town because it was getting dark and I was afraid someone (certainly me, but probably Ammon too) would trip on the slick rocks combing down in the dark.

Coming down I got accidentally separated from everyone else and took these paths down alone. I don’t know if Abe or I took this, but it reminds me of that solitary feeling in the old castle. I thought a lot about the life of women and how they would have felt living here. I have no idea what their lives were like but they could not have been easy. It was kind of like Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston is so pretty, but the past is so imposing it feels almost physically present. At the same time, I hope the beauty of their geographical location and their pretty city offered consolation and joy.

Also, Lydia and Mary made the most adorable dance, which you can see in this video.

Portaria, Delphi, and Nafplion

In the morning we awoke completely enamored with our adorable hotel. We loved how cozy and clean it was and how beautiful the views from the window were.

When we went downstairs we had the most beautiful, delicious breakfast of the trip waiting for us. Portaria was a total steal. The breakfast was included even though the hotel was the cheapest of the trip. Next time we are going to plan more days in the Pelion peninsula, which is where our hotel was. We wished we could have gone to the restaurant farm and taken a cooking class and explored the area more. But the food we explored thoroughly and it was soooooo good.

Those baked apples in the back are the best I have had in my life. There is a special type of apple grown in the Pelion that they ship throughout Europe, but they bake it in the Pelion with some special spices and the end products are unbelievable.

In the heated trays are all delicious dishes of eggplants, mushrooms, and eggs. Those spinach pies in front were the best we tasted in Greece.

Our waiter was also the manager. He was our waiter at dinner and breakfast and welcomed us into the hotel. He said Clarissa reminded him of his youngest daughter when she was small.

The plaza and this tree in particular were lit up beautifully all night long. I loved looking out of our windows at it.

As we drove down the mountain the city of Volos literally sparkled in the morning sun.

Delphi

I’ll be honest. This was the only stop on our trip that we did because it would have been embarrassing to go to Greece and not see Delphi. But even though we were all very thoroughly brushed up on our Greek myths and Delphi seems to pop up in every other one, I just don’t care about Delphi that much. But we dutifully spent a day driving there, touring the sites, and the driving the almost three more hours to Nafplion.

We did enjoy the friezes in the excellently curated Delphi museum. This one depicts Apollo and Hercules fighting over the sacred tripod of Delphi.

I was impressed by this opulent offering discovered at the site. Not only is this gift clearly spectacular, but its reconstruction is ingenious and beautiful.

This was a sphinx carved out of marble from Naxos!

Ammon had no idea what Delphi was about, but he just naturally adopted an oracular pose close to Apollo’s temple.

Because Delphi is out of the way we spent the rest of the day driving to our hotel in Nafplion.

We arrived extremely late because right as we were about to cross the isthmus to the Peloponnese peninsula the toll booths shut completely down. Apparently there was a clash up ahead between the gypsies and the police and they would not let anyone through for an hour. Luckily we had Troy to listen to. We hoped everyone was all right but at the same time felt ever so slightly appreciative of the fact that we were experiencing something that everyone around us seemed to accept as a fact of life in Greece but felt foreign to us. That feeling was probably morally unacceptable, considering the investment and risk going on in both sides of the confrontation. But, to be honest, it was there.

Meteora and Mt. Olympus

Meteora

We drove to Meteora early in the morning so we would get there before any busses or crowds. When we arrived, everything was still, quiet, and profoundly peaceful.

Climbing the stairs to the Varlaam Monsestary.

This is the basket that used to haul people up. My dad used to talk about Meteora a lot and it was fun to see the baskets he referenced in his stories.

Here is a video Abe made from the Varlaam monastery:

Next we walked up to the Grand Monestary of Meteora.

Our favorite part of this monestary was the old kitchen, but we forgot to take a picture!

We didn’t eat breakfast and Clarissa was on the verge of mutiny, so we came down to the town to eat lunch. The waiter kindly took our picture (and posed us to boot!).

Mt. Olympus

After Meteora we headed to Mt. Olympus. We wanted to see it mainly because of its role in Greek myths; we had no idea that the mountain would be anything special. But we were so wrong. I fear our pictures could never do this mountain justice! It was the most beautiful mountain Abe and I had ever seen. The whole road up and down the mountain we all kept essentially screaming in surprise at all of the vistas and colors. We also so five foxes (at five different times!). The fifth fox was being fed by people in their car so that is probably why so many were by the side of the road, but still it was fun to see them!

I changed the filter on this picture in an attempt to evoke the same magical feelings we all had on the mountain. We were in awe the whole time.

This picture comes close to showing a little of what we experienced in certain sections of the road. Although I took this on the hike, on the road there were entire sections where the trees on both sides looked like this and the whole top of the road was covered with these glowing, amber leaves. It was incredible.

On the other side of that wall is a sheer cliff to the bottom of the gorge. We did not let Ammon or Clarissa out of the car here. Lydia looks slightly apprehensive at the cliff.

After Mt. Olympus we all rode down to the town at the base of the mountain and ate pasta, pizza, Greek salad, and ice cream. Then we got back into the car and I put “Sarakina” into the GPS. Our farm house was in a little village called “Sarakina,” so I imagined that would be sufficient.

That is why at 10pm at night we found ourselves driving on unlit roads in the middle of country nowhere. We still thought we were close to our village because it was also in the middle of nowhere, but when the road got so narrow and steep that we had to back up and turn around, I double checked the GPS.

Imagine the shock when I realized we were 45 minutes from the Bulgaria border and honestly not that much farther to Turkey. Our Sarakina (or Sarakinas, as it turned out) was three and a half hours southwest. Oops. Poor Abe had to drive almost until 2am that night. Luckily we had great audiobooks (Michael Pollan’s Second Nature and Stephen Fry’s Troy) and good music to keep him going. It turned out to be a really fun night in at least one other respect because we got to talk a lot to each other without interruption. That is always a treat.

Also (Abe interjecting here), there is one anecdote that I want to make sure we share. I’m not sure if it was today or another day after Naxos, but the kids have been using their devices a ton while we drive. It keeps them completely quiet, and they love it and we love it (the quiet, so we can listen to our Stephen Fry audiobook on Troy). One day we were driving, and Clarissa spontaneously (or so we thought) burst into tears. Her sobs were desperate like her dog just died or something. We asked Clarissa what was wrong and in a completely distraught voice she wailed, “My ipad died!”. She really does love that ipad. I’ve even heard her call it her “Ipaddy”.

Also, here are a bunch of other videos from the day:

Here is what Mary captured in her travel journal about today:

Thermopylae

In the morning we had arranged for the previous day’s taxi driver and his nephew to taxi us to the car rental place. I am almost positive they ran the meter up by a very significant amount, but then again Clarissa got chocolate all over one of their 90,000 Euro taxis, so maybe it was okay.

It took a long time to rent a car even though we had reserved one in advance. As we were waiting we met the nicest men from Turkey who were there to compete in the triathlon the next day. We exchanged info with one of them in the hopes that they will come to Utah to bike or compete someday. After all the paperwork and everything was signed, we finally loaded the car and took off.

I had been very, very worried about driving in Greece. So worried, in fact, that I refused to do it, in spite of having an international driver’s license. I was just as worried about Abe driving in Greece, but it turns out he was a total natural. And the roads were much, much better than expected. It was a huge relief!

As we drove to our Airbnb in Sarakinas, we took the slightest detour to see Thermopylae, the site of the last stand of the 300 fighters from Sparta. I had read that there was not much there, but it turns out the visitor center had a short, 3D video that was excellent for children. It explained the differences in armor, weaponry, and training between the Greeks and the Persions, and it broke the three day battle down into graphics that were very easy to follow. By the end of the movie we all understood how brave, fierce, and ultimately self-sacrificing these Greek warriors were. We were excited to cross the road and stand on the hill where the warriors last stood.

This is the memorial to the 300 and their leader.

We ate junk food for lunch because there was literally nothing else around. We had not eaten breakfast and everyone was strongly vocalizing a need to eat. So chips, nougat, and apples it was.

A Spartan warrior’s armor display in the visitor center.

The hill of the Spartan camp. We were standing on the hill where the last 300 died (by 3000 Persion arrows, later excavated).

The monument to the Spartans on the hill.

After Thermopylae we drove to our Airbnb, which was in a small country village.

The kids and Abe got their wiggles out playing freeze tag. To unfreeze the kids needed an unfrozen child to crawl under them. In the final iteration Abe was the chaser and his goal was to freeze all four kids without them unfreezing each other.

The playground at the taverna where we ate dinner.

We ate dinner at the only taverna in town. There were a few older men smoking outside and some stray dogs roaming close by. This was the first place Abe felt a soul connection with Greece.

Part of Abe’s feeling related to seeing these on the table. His grandmother has the same ones.

The taverna as we were leaving. Abe took a picture because he loved it so much.

Here is what Mary captured about today in her travel journal:

Ferry back to Athens

With our luggage loaded there was no longer room for everyone to have their own seatbelt, so these two shared for the ride back to the port.

As we were loading onto the ferry so were these trucks loaded with marble from the quarries of Naxos–which has the oldest operating quarry in the world.

On the ferry the kids did some play dough.

Mary did such a good job on the bread! I don’t remember who did the cookies.

Athens

After arriving in Athens we took two taxis to our Airbnb in the Plaka. It was a modest apartment but the location was incredible. It was literally around the corner from the Acropolis metro station–and the best pita place I’d tried yet on the trip.

After we dropped our bags off we headed out to see the Parthenon.

Abe and I enjoyed cuddling and watching the Parthenon glow in the evening light before we were kicked out at closing. The kids had a lot of fun playing in front of the Parthenon.

On our way to dinner we tried to go to the Acropolis museum but I did not have my vaccine card on me. That was a shame but a good reason to return.

After strolling down the Plaka for a bit we settled down for some yummy gyros and the only real gelato I’ve had in over a decade. It was so incredible. I can taste it just remembering it. Mmmmmmmm….

Here is what Mary captured about today:

My favorite day in Greece

This was the view from right below our villa when we woke up in the morning. Naxos was beautiful.

We started by exploring the Chora’s Kastro, or old town by the castle. It was very similar to Apiranthos in its layout, except that it was not solid marble and there was no shoe cobbler in a tiny house nook in sight. There were, however, lovely twists and turns and fun nooks and crannies to explore.

Then we tried to find lunch, but since no one was open for that yet we explored the old market. I liked this better than the Kastro even.

Then we had lunch by the port and then headed in our car to the Alyeko Cedar forest with its secluded beaches. This was, by far, my favorite part of a heavenly Greece trip. I love the beach, I love Greek island beaches, and best of all I love secluded beaches. It means my kids can be wild and I don’t have to worry about them bothering anyone or kicking sand in anyone’s eyes. I don’t have to monitor them every single second because it’s a small beach and they don’t want to even wander. I can just lie by the water, relax, drink in the sun, and listen to the sound of my family enjoying themselves. As bonuses on top of bonuses, the water was not only crystal clear but warm too! Words can not express my appreciation for this beach and this treasure of an afternoon. I loved every single second and cherish this memory so much.

Abe wanted to watch the sun set, and it turned out to be an absolutely magical experience for all of us.

After this incredible afternoon, we went home, ate some leftovers, washed off, and went to bed. A beautiful day.

Exploring Naxos

Demeter’s Temple

In the morning we set out to explore Naxos, and we started with Demeter’s Temple. We absolutely loved the surrounding area of the temple, and Ammon still says it is his favorite thing in Greece (this is being blogged after our trip has ended). The countryside looks kind of drab in the pictures, but in real life the countryside seemed to undulate out from the center of the temple. We loved looking at the ancient farms and groves all around. History seemed to really come alive as we examined the temple and the offering holes in the ground.

Lydia, Abe and I all tried eating an olive here. We discovered that, delectable as a ripe olive on the tree looks, it is completely inedible in its raw state. It is such a tragedy! But after this experience I noticed we all gobbled down olives whenever they were offered to us (all the time). I suppose we understood the cured olives’ value better somehow after having suffered the taste and aftertaste of their raw counterparts.

Chalki

In Chalki we observed high school students learning what looked like a traditional Greek dance in the outdoor gym section of the school, which was right next to our parking lot. Then we wandered through the charming streets of Chalki before realizing that most of it was shut down due to it being October. Since we had skipped breakfast, we got some smoothies from one shop that was open–and some lemon and chocolate cake, since we did not know when we would eat again. I also entered the store of a woman who was weaving beautiful greek cloth in the window, but after feeling slightly pressured left. I felt guilty about leaving all day and to now still wonder if I should have bought something.

Mt. Zas and Zeus’s cave

After leaving Chalki we drove to Mt. Zas. We did not know if we would attempt to hike to the top or just to the cave. As it turned out, the path was extremely slippery and the boulders/boulder climbing got more intense as we progressed, so after the cave we turned around.

(It helped that I asked a passing hiker how it was at the top and she strongly discouraged me from bringing kids up since it was wet, cold, windy, and–her words–very dangerous.) We did see a family with a six year old who had hiked to the top, but with Ammon being unpredictable and hard to manage, and Clarissa prone to fits and needing to be carried, we felt like the cave was a sufficient reward for a very fun hike. The kids all said it was their favorite part of the day and wanted to keep going.

At the base of the hike to the cave where Zeus was raised there is a koi pond.

Abe patiently encouraged/carried Clarissa down the mountain.

Apiranthos, the marble city

I had read that Apiranthos was called the marble city, but as we approached the kids expressed disappointment. Mary, our little artist, was particularly peeved that the city would not be solid marble as promised.

But as soon as we stepped off the cement outer road onto the pavement of the actual city, we realized the city was made out of marble. The pavement, stairs, and building blocks for the houses were all marble. I am pretty sure the white paint on the houses was covering marble slabs underneath.

We all thought it was almost miraculous to walk in a solid marble city, and as we wandered and got lost in the city we felt we had stepped back in time. I mean waaaaaay back. At one point I turned a corner and literally saw a cobbler making shoes in an almost impossibly small room. I don’t think I will ever forget the image. I felt like I had entered a fairy tale.

All of the kids were appropriately awed and interested, but maybe the most enthused of us all was Abe. Even after we accidentally upset a resident by being too loud (lookin’ at you, cute Ammon!) and got barked at through a fence by ferocious sounding dogs, he wanted to keep wandering indefinitely. The kids started complaining they were hungry, which was fair since we had barely eaten anything all day. So we ended up having a little appetizer at the only open taverna we could find. The taverna seemed to be entirely owned and operated by one man and while I found some of the food slightly difficult to eat, he was the kindest person.

We drove home and cooked the kids some noodles and served them the rest of the fruit and olives in the fridge. They appeared happy with that arrangement, and it was nice to be in our little house for one evening.

Off to Santorini

In the morning we packed lightly and drove down to the port to catch our ferry to Santorini.

As we waited the kids found this octopus by the port taverna.

We got a taxi almost all the way to our Airbnb, where Abe lay a sleeping Clarissa on her bed.

In our Airbnb there was this art piece which reminded Abe of his grandfather’s art.

We ate at Skala and it had terrific views of the caldera.

Competing with the hoards of people to see the sunset. At one point I took the three oldest and just wandered down alleys while Abe took pictures of the sun at various stages of setting.

The girls and I bought earrings for Suzanne.

After this we caught our return taxi back to our Airbnb, where everyone changed into swimsuits and played in the hottub overlooking the sea and a blue and white church right behind us. Well, the kids and Abe played and I tried very hard not to be too cold (the hot tub was more like lukewarm).

Second Naxos day

In the morning Abe and I woke up and were stunned to learn that it was past 1pm. That jeg lag!

By the time we got out of the house we just had time for the kids to play on the beach a little bit before dinner at the same restaurant we ate at the night before (only this time we sat on the beach).