The Peleponnese

We left Delphi yesterday heading west along the gulf of Corinth.  The gulf is relatively narrow and gets increasingly narrow.   We had clear blue sky, deep blue water and soaring mountains both to the north and the south.  We crossed the gulf at the beautiful bridge at Patra and headed into the Peloponnese peninsula. 

We drove south along the coast to toward ancient Olympia, off the expressway.  Sometimes the paved shoulders are narrow, sometimes wide.  Everyone is driving on the paved shoulder.  This creates a no-man's land in the center of both lanes, where people pass from both directions.  This can cause a moment of angst if cars are passing from both directions simultaneously, especially in the case of oncoming trucks or busses on blind corners or hills.   

The speed limits are low and change rapidly because there are lots of small villages and you slow for every one of them.  90, 70, 50, 70, 90, 50, kph, etc. = 55 to 30 mph.  Sometimes the speed change is marked, sometimes not.  No cops ever - the speed is enforced by traffic cams.  Fortunately our rented GPS was warning us of the upcoming traffic cams and the current speed limit.  Hopefully it knew them all.  In the back woods it quit talking about traffic cams.     

Our first stop was in ancient Olympia - pronounced O-lym-pi-a - the site of the original Olympic games over 2000 years ago.  It is a large site, tens of acres, with lots of well preserved stones - most of which have tumbled over due to earth quakes.  It was hot but well shaded so we were able to explore pretty much the entire thing.  We had lunch in the small town of Olympia near the site.

Our next destination was Mycenae.   The GPS and google maps were disagreeing, so we went with the GPS route because it predicted an hour less time.  The Peloponnese is very mountainous, so different routes can be very different in time.  For this leg, we really hit the backwoods of Greece - olive groves, rivers, what looked like sugar cane and lots of palm trees.  It was quite the explore. 

Mycenae - pronounced Mike-en-ee - is the oldest archeological site in Greece  It is thought to be the dominant civilization of the area about 1200 BC, before Athens rose.  The site is a hill top acropolis overlooking a valley and the Aegean, just south of Corinth.  The most interesting part is the Lion Gate, which is thought to be the oldest relief sculpture in Greece.  Most of the Lion sculpture is still there - only the heads are missing.   

We continued up to Corinth for dinner - happening upon a downtown square with fountains by the gulf - and finding a place for gyros.  Corinth is strategically located where the Aegean and the gulf are close together.  They have cut a shipping channel between them so there was lots of freighter traffic on the water.   

After dinner we dropped the car at the Athens airport.  It was late so we caught a cab into town, an extravagance - but I was tired.  (I know, the whole thing is an extravagance - but we are trying to keep the cost down.)  Our young adult driver was like a one man tour guide and ambassador for Greece.  He talked about the town, the politics, the economy, his job, what he does on vacation, what he does with his friends.  He was much fun. 

We arrived at our hotel in Athens and slept well. 

The bridge

Ancient Olympia

Mycenae

Corinth