monemvasia is a three hour drive from nafplio (further than from athens) but well worth it. the masive rock standing in the sea makes for an amazing sight as you approach it, and affords some fantastic views. we hiked through the lower city and traversed out the rocky sea-cliffs. of course, katharine and martin are a bit more nimble than me so they had a bit less difficulty climbing around. scott lynn would have been disappointed in me, though i did manage to find a decent route. we then hiked up to the summit, a massive hike with little shade. the fortress on top had a few structures still standing, but the real payoff was the amazing views – the rubble served as an excellent backdrop. unfortunately the church of agia sofia, the one well-maintained structure, was closed for restoration and we didn’t get to see the interior.

we then hiked back down and had lunch before driving to mystras. though it was to close at 6pm and we arrived at 530, we still went up and saw as much as we could. we saw a number of cool churches and palatial ruins that were undergoing reconstruction. unfortunately we didn’t make it to the museum or the fortress in time.

we made better time on the national road back than we had on the mountain roads on the way in, though it was an additional 30km. once we got back to nafplio we headed out for snacks and then capped the evening off with dessert in honor of martin’s birthday. the main square was entertained by a pair of travelling french students who spit fire and danced with flaming ropes for tips.

we ate breakfast from the bakery then headed out to the nearby theatre of epidavros. navigating the car out from nafplio was much more straightforward than athens, and since we had arrived after dark this was our first chance to really get a sense of the local scenery.

epidavros is a massive construction, and features one of the best-preserved ancient theatres in greece. the acoustics there are so ideal that you can hear almost flawlessly from the top row, a fact which the tour groups continually demonstrated with various songs and calls. the theatre is in such good condition that it is used for local music festivals and theatre events. the rest of the site is an ancient shrine of healing, where the sick would come to be healed by the gods, and later, medicine. parts of the site were being restored and it will certainly be a better site in a few year’s time.

from epidavros we took a few wrong turns attempting to head towards ancient corinth.. it worked out alright, until we actually reached corinth. then we accidentally got on the national highway and travelled for about 45 minutes and through a tollboth (€2.00) before the next exit. after considering how time-consuming backtracking would be, we decided instead to continue on to mycenae and perhaps leave ancient corinth for another day.

we headed back towards nafplio and the massive fortress of ancient mycenae. situated on a hill between two mountains it has an impressive and easily-defended location. unfortunately, with the pacification of the greek countryside the location became simply inconvenient. the site is famous for several large grave sites that had not been looted, as well as impressive tholos tombs. we hiked down the dark, treacherous stairs into the cistern but unfortunately i had brought my zipka a few thousand miles just to leave it at the hotel. we toured the impressive museum and got our requisite shots of the lion gate before hiking a few hundred meters down the road to the treasurey of atreus. we were lucky enough to see it empty, as we were leaving two tour bus loads were entering the tomb.

after we got back we had some daylight left so we decided to check out half of the fortifications in nafplio. we hiked up and got some excellent views of the city and saw the sun setting behind the clouds brilliantly. we then hiked back down to the beach and into town for some lunch. with a few more hours to kill, i wandered off and saw the city outside the square. after i got bored of sightseeing i found a taverna and had rabbit stifado and house wine for dinner, a delicious bargain at only €8.30!

at 12:45 we set sail for piraeus aboard another catamaran ferry. i was able to procure a few more bottles of a local vinsanto and load them into my bag, i expect they’ll make great gifts. the ferry stopped en route at the island of ios but we were unable to disembark and check it out, sadly. as is my way i took up conversation with the person next to me; an edmontonian in the middle of a month-long european vacation. he had recently been on the night train to krakow and reading the guidebook along the way he came to a section that read something to the effect of: “the night train to krakow is extremely dangerous. if you are on it right now, keep reading and don’t go to sleep.” brilliant.

once we arrived in piraeus we took the familiar metro to omonia and then caught a bus to our car rental. after filling out some paperwork and a bit of confusion on everyone’s part, we left the proud renters of a hyundai accent. to say that this car was underpowered would be generous. regardless we headed out for the two-plus hour drive towards corinth and eventually nafplio. due to an error in my part on reading the map we had to hunt to find our hotel but it was to little benefit, as when we did discover it the lobby was unstaffed. so we headed to dinner and when we returned we were able to check into the hotel kapodistrias – our home for the next few days.