We wanted to get on the road first thing in the morning which means we got on the road about 11am. Pretty much what I expected. I wanted to take a few more pictures of Gerolimenas. Nancy says she was worried she would forget the magic of the place but pictures have a way of bringing us back.
Nancy booked us a room for that night in Athens before we drove off, our apartment was rented out that night so she booked a cheap hotel, just some place to sleep. Course, I didn't really need a place to sleep, I decided to catch up all of my missed sleep in the car that day. I didn't plan it but since Su was in the front seat she was designated navigator and sitting in the back seat made me tired. I used to fall asleep in a car every time I was a passenger. I've gotten better about it but my body takes awhile to adjust to new time zones so I would get anywhere from 3 to 5 hours of sleep a night except the night I took a sleeping pill. I would just wake up and read until the girls got moving.
Sharon sent us an email saying we should check out Gythio. She stopped there the previous day and thought we would like it, so we decided to stop there for lunch. Sharon knows us well. What a cool little fishing village. They even had an open air market but by the time we were done with lunch, I didn't feel like shopping any more.
As a bonus, they had a lighthouse. You know how Su loves her lighthouses. Luckily we didn't have to hike there to see it!
Lunch was pretty good. We ordered a shrimp salad, word or warning, if you order anything other then a Greek salad they will drown your salad in dressing. I'm someone who loves salad dressing and it's too much for me. A lot of what we wanted they didn't have but something the waiter suggested based on our requests was a small fish fry. These suckers were delicious! It was a fishy version of french fries (instead of fish and chips, you can have fishy chips). We all kept diving in, we couldn't get enough. But since we were us, we had ordered a few other things and were full. We seriously debated getting a to go bag for the few that were left but we didn't think soggy fishy chips would be as good. I used to get fried smelt similar to this when I lived in Los Angeles. If you're curious about these delights, look for asian restaurants that aren't Americanized, best places to look would be your version of Chinatown.
Today was a day for Su and Nancy. We were taking the circuitous route back to Athens. They wanted to make a couple of pit stops along the way. So while they navigated their way to Sparti I went back to sleep. The weather had been a dream while we were in Greece so far. The day we decide to hit the road it was grey and gloomy and we finally hit the rain. Kostas says that when it rains it pours. Luckily it didn't get too bad. Nancy was thrilled about the automatic wipers in the car. I've already experienced that before in Karen's Porche, old news to me, LOL.
Once we got to Sparti and the Monastery of Pantanassa I woke up. I saw the wind and rain and that the Monastery was uphill I handed them my camera and decided to stay in the car and read. I was reading the sequel to Deborah Harkness's Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night. I enjoyed the world building but felt like there was little progression in the story. That being said, I'm still looking forward to the last book in the trilogy.
This stop was one of Nancy's favorite stops. She says she could have spent all day there and I believe her. When we go to museums, I want to just look and walk thru, she wants to see and read everything. I usually bring a book with me or send her on without me. The pics are gorgeous!
Next up was a drive to Nafplio. You know what that meant, I went back to sleep. When I was in Amsterdam and we drove to Spain I slept the entire car ride except when it was time to eat. I was catching up on my sleep then too.
Since we needed to get the car back by 9pm instead of hitting the 3 temples that Nafplio had to offer they chose one. I woke up, looked at where we were and decided to read again. Hey, at least I'm consistent! The weather cleared up and they were able to take some beautiful photos.
We were going to be cutting it tight to get the car back to Athens in time but based on our calculations we could still make it. Well, that was before we got lost. We didn't rent a GPS when we rented the car, they were out, so we've been old schooling it and using a map. Kostas also gave us directions on how to get to our two spots. His specific direction for leaving Nafplio was to stop and ask someone how to get to a specific road. Well we stopped, to get a soda and a pastry. We neglected to ask but never fear, Su and Nancy were on it! Well until we had been driving up a windy mountain in the dark that they didn't remember driving down. So one U-turn on the side of a mountain later we were heading back towards Argos. The crazy part is once we hit Argos, we literally had people sending us in the opposite direction of what the person before them told us. Needless to say, we drove around in a circle a couple of times (one way streets are a bitch!).
Finally we got on the right road to Athens so I decided to go back to sleep. Well, not really decided it just happens when I'm in the back seat (and sometimes when I'm in the front). Outside of Athens they pulled over to try and figure out how to get to our hotel since we were running so late the car rental place had closed (not a big deal, except, we knew how to get the car rental back, didn't know how to get to the hotel). Once we got into the city we pulled over to ask directions and turns out we were only a couple of blocks away! That was pure blind luck, I mean, Nancy and Su were just that good. Now what was in theory 2 blocks away ended up being about 6 or 7 blocks away. What we thought was a no right turn sign is a no turn on red sign, well, that's our guess anyway since it seems like no one but us actually reads the signs (seriously, Nancy asked what a sign meant and they shrugged it off, they didn't know either).
After we checked in we went to the rooftop restaurant to get some food. They had a great view of the Acropolis. Too bad they were closing! So we walked down a block and got some food from the souvlaki stand and the 24 hour bakery! I love this town!
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