I am sitting in a very noisy internet cafe in Patra! It's a gaming place so it's dark and noisy, and because it's Greece also smoky, interesting but not really easy to think here so if things seem disjointed that'll be why!
My last night in Nafplio was really lovely. I wandered back from the internet cafe and had a wee rest before heading downstairs to eat my dinner. As I was finishing George (the hostel owner) asked me if I would like to join his sons for dinner or a drink at the tavern where I had eaten the night before. I'll admit my first instinct was to say no but I decided that it would be nice to have company so I tagged along. Kostos and Orestes are 39 and 42 with at least four kids between them but I could never tell which belonged to whom! Orestes is named after one of my favourite Greek heroes but I didn't tell him that (it'd be like meeting a Robin and saying "Oh cool, I love Robin Hood!) They ordered heaps of starters and despite being really full I tried a lot of different things including a couple kinds of cheese, something spinachy and a fried something, maybe falafel? It was all really good but I ended up feeling pretty sick from eating too much! It was nice to chat with them too, we discussed smoking and drinking laws in Greece, Europe and NZ, as well as standard small talk about my trip and their lives. It was really nice, it's a pity George doesn't have a third (rather younger) son!
I left Nafplio Tuesday morning. My hostel owner's timetable said there was a bus to Tripoli at 10am, and then I could get a direct bus from Tripoli to Olympia, easy as pie. Ha! Turns out they no longer run that 10am bus, only one at 8.30am and 4.30pm. Quick thinker me, I caught the 10am to Corinth, the midday to Pyrgos and the 4pm to Olympia... long way around but not too difficult! It all went according to plan that way so I arrived in Olympia at 4.30 and headed to my youth hostel. In Pyrgos I met two Canadian sisters (from BC) who have been travelling for four months and are in Greece as their last stop before heading back home so we decided to meet up the next morning to wander Ancient Olympia. Nice for me to not be alone, and I think nice for them to have a new person to talk to!
Ancient Olympia was really cool, crazy to think that 2000 years ago they were competing naked for laurel wreaths... It was neat to have people to go "Ooh look at that" with too! I saw various temples, the old game ground, Nero's house (so called because he stayed there for a short time) which was in pretty good condition, lots of mosaics and about 40 tour buses. They drive me mental! They all just descend on exactly where you want to be and have no courtesy. I cannot imagine Olympia in the high season, supersaturated. I imagine noone can move and they all just buy postcards and pretend they could see the sites! Which are of course well worth seeing. Olympia was beautiful, and the bookstore/art gallery owner offered me a job so I might just be taking Greek lessons next year. He was really sweet, gave me a discount on a book I was buying, a Greek author in English, because I studied Philosophy and worked in a bookstore! Then I read that book in one night (The Mermaid Madonna, really wonderful) and went back to buy another by the same author and got invited to drink wine that evening!
The Canadian girls and I went out for dinner that night to a taverna which had been recommended to us. Lovely meal, I had fish which I haven't had in ages so it was nice. We had a little wine (red wine served cold, weird) and then they gave us a nice sweet plate at the end of slice apple with honey and cinnamon, delicious. After that we said our goodbyes and I headed to the bookstore for about an hour to drink red wine and watch the football (Greece vs Switzerland.) It was really nice, he has this gorgeous store with enough touristy stuff to make his living off tour groups but it's obvious he's in it for the love of art and books! I got the grand tour and immediately wanted to stay forever, unfortunately not currently possible. I did stay a little too long it turned out, I got back to my hostel at about 10.29 for my 10.30 curfew and found the door already locked! Just as I was deciding whether to try to scale the balcony or go and beg a couch from the bookshop guy (can you believe I never got his name?) the little old man opened the door for me and scolded me for not coming a few minutes early! Rightly so actually, I got too caught up in the conversation!
I caught the bus to Pyrgos this morning and then on to Patra where I arrived at about 1.30pm. Now my original plan was to have one full day in Patra and get the ferry to Bari tomorrow night, but when I found the youth hostel it's reception was closed until 4pm and the whole place was full of men, not a single girl to be seen, which I just thought was strange. I've met at least as many women travelling as men so when I saw about 15 guys milling around it made me a bit uncomfortable (whether with reason or not) and I suddenly thought "Well, I could go to Italy now..." There's nothing in Patra which especially drew me, although it was highly recommended by a Greek woman in a hostel so probably there's good stuff to see. So I'm waiting the hour until my ferry leaves for Bari by updating you all. Just think, in 24 hours I'll be in my hostel in Naples and probably in Pompeii the day after that!
I've absolutely loved Greece, but I'm also so excited about the next adventure! Pizza, Leonardo, Leaning Towers and the Pope here I come!
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