unfortunately my clever use of sms didn’t work out with the soccer team calling zoom to wish martin a happy birthday this morning (a clever surprise it would have been!) but dana was kind enough to mms along a picture of an even fancier dessert than we had the previous night. yay for global communications!

we decided to give corinth a miss and spend a rest day in nafplio. the last few days had a lot of driving (or riding in the car in my case) and our longest day – nafplio to kalabaka – is yet to come. a rest day meant decent breakfast, a quick call to arrange our hotel near meteora, and then hiking to the top of the palamidi fortress here in town. the palamidi boasted a number of excellent views and hidden cisterns. unfortunately most of the views over the old fortifications also overlooked an abandoned hotel, which had i known about before hand i would have seriously considered squatting in. after hiking all over the various bastions and redoubts, i decided to count the steps on the way down and reached 340 before i met a pair of french girls (the firebreathers from last night) doing the same on the way up. they had 550. so roughly 900 steps in all. i think that takes the cake for me, stair-wise.

after the fortress we made our way out to the boutrzi island fortress in the middle of the harbor. it used to be the home of the town executioner, but lately appears to be a disused party rental and minor tourist attraction. i would like to own such an island fortress, or at the very least it would make an excellent venue for a wedding and reception.

we did a little shopping but our hunger quickly caught up with us and we completely one-upped my meal from tuesday. roasted lamb, fish soup, baklava – perhaps the best meal i have ever had. we sat under the umbrella as it rained and ate & drank until full. we finished the night of with a bit more shopping and returned home joyfully.