Day 5 - Nafplion to Olympia

So instead of beginning with the start of the day let me just say that the night ended with Donna and I dancing on tables. This I thought I would never see. We woke up to a Magnificat day and view, the water was calm and still and the sky was blue, another 30 degree day forecast. Today is Noel and my 10th wedding anniversary so we Exchanged gifts and headed to breakfast. Donna and Mark had a card waiting for us which was lovely.

 

After breakfast we did a small walking tour of the town then headed back to the hotel but no tour director just the local guide to show us around. After the tour we met up with one group who did a rush job to the dentist that morning and had a tooth pulled, he was in terrible pain and had an infection so the quick fix was to pull it. Still no sign of our tour director. We then headed for Mycenae which was once the main centre of the Mycenaean world. Unfortunately because of the strike we couldn't explore it however we could see it quite well. It was a civilisation that evolved throughout the entire Greek world between the 16th and 12th c. BC. The Mycenaean acropolis dominated the Argive plain and housed the Royal House of Atreidae and their people. It was also discovered from excavations that the site was inhabited as far back in the 3rd millennium BC and have found creations from the Middle Helladic period 1900-1580 BC.

It was after this tour we discovered that our tour director Bill had to return to Athens for personal reasons and we were to get a new one after lunch. For our inconvenience Insight shouted us lunch complete with drinks. The meal was huge, fried cheese, moussaka, dips, Greek salad and of course lamb. We met our new tour director Rulie who is Greek and hit the road to Olympia. The Hotel Antonios isn't as nice as last nights but ok for one night. The drive here was nice along the coast and though the mountains with some great scenery.

Did the mandatory Facebook check when we arrived were Brooke and Michael had posted a picture of the dogs with a sign wishing us a Happy 10th Anniversary which really made my day.

We headed out for dinner around 7.00pm were we undertook some cooking lessons. I felt like I was on Greek Master-chef.   This was fun and we all took turns in creating several different dishes. Dinner was this massive Buffett which was truly delicious but I am sure they had enough for another 200 people. I am sure I have out on 5kg and I haven't even been here one week.

Next came the Greek dancing and plate smashing which ended up with Donna and I dancing on the tables. We had only had 500mls of wine each so how that happened I don't  know. Hopefully the video isn't already on You Tube.

Looking forward to investigating Ancient Olympia tomorrow but until then goodnight J&N.