![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Yesterday we thought we'd take a day trip out to Monemvasia, the so-called Gibraltar of Greece. The bus left Sparta at 11:30 and the journey was supposed to take a bit over two hours but it was a local bus and stopped at every little village along the way. And it wasn't just a pit stop on the road outside of town, the bus drove into the village, through impossibly narrow streets to the taverna that serves as a bus station and then it had to drive out again.
We arrived in Monemvasia at 2:30 and learned that the last bus back to Sparta was at "3:30 or 4". Er, ok... Only it wasn't even direct, at 4 we had to take a bus to a little nowhere town and wait for the 6 o'clock bus to Sparta. More on that later.
With little more than an hour to explore with the sun beating down on us, we set out for Monemvasia. It's a large rock just off the coast; to get to it, you have to cross a causeway from the village of Gythos (? can't remember the name just now) and walk around a third of the island before you see anything more than the crumbling fortress on top of the rock. We finally reached it, walked around for fifteen minutes, then walked back. Exciting stuff.
No, seriously, it's too bad we didn't have more time, it's a really pretty place. It's still inhabited and the houses are in good repair. It reminded me of a cross between Mont St-Michel and Cesky Krumlov, with even narrower streets than either one.
Anyway, about the buses: at the Sparta bus station, there were 3 departure times for Monemvasia, but once we got there, there seemed to be only 2 daily buses back to Sparta, one of them at 4 in the morning. This makes sense how? Waiting in that little village was an interesting experience, though. We arrived at about 4:30 and wondered why everything was so quiet. Nobody was out, no cars were going by... This wasn't another bank holiday, was it? No, it was siesta time! You don't notice it in the larger towns where there are lots of tourists, but in places like that, or even here in Delphi, from 2-3 to 5 everything closes down. It was fun to sit in the town square and watch the inhabitants slowly emerge to open their shops.
Last night we had supper at a true taverna, frequented by local old men where the only food on offer is anything roasted on a spit. It was good, and we had lots and lots of wine, tasty home-made stuff brewed by the owner, who lived in Ottawa for several years. I was pretty drunk, but suffered no ill effects this morning other than almost missing our bus to Athens.
So we took the 8:30 bus to Athens, which left us at Bus Terminal A. The bus to Delphi, however, leaves from Bus Terminal B. What were we to do? Find some helpful English-speaking Greeks and get them to help us, of course! We made Bus Terminal B ten minutes before the next bus to Delphi left and Delphi at 4 o'clock this afternoon. On the way we stopped for ten minutes just beside the Corinth Canal, so G got to see it up close like he'd wanted. It's a rather impressive piece of work. And to think it took over two thousand years to get it done!
It's beautiful up here, in the mountains. Our balcony overlooks a deep valley and we can see the Gulf of Corinth in the distance. Tomorrow, we visit the Oracle. What should I ask her?
We arrived in Monemvasia at 2:30 and learned that the last bus back to Sparta was at "3:30 or 4". Er, ok... Only it wasn't even direct, at 4 we had to take a bus to a little nowhere town and wait for the 6 o'clock bus to Sparta. More on that later.
With little more than an hour to explore with the sun beating down on us, we set out for Monemvasia. It's a large rock just off the coast; to get to it, you have to cross a causeway from the village of Gythos (? can't remember the name just now) and walk around a third of the island before you see anything more than the crumbling fortress on top of the rock. We finally reached it, walked around for fifteen minutes, then walked back. Exciting stuff.
No, seriously, it's too bad we didn't have more time, it's a really pretty place. It's still inhabited and the houses are in good repair. It reminded me of a cross between Mont St-Michel and Cesky Krumlov, with even narrower streets than either one.
Anyway, about the buses: at the Sparta bus station, there were 3 departure times for Monemvasia, but once we got there, there seemed to be only 2 daily buses back to Sparta, one of them at 4 in the morning. This makes sense how? Waiting in that little village was an interesting experience, though. We arrived at about 4:30 and wondered why everything was so quiet. Nobody was out, no cars were going by... This wasn't another bank holiday, was it? No, it was siesta time! You don't notice it in the larger towns where there are lots of tourists, but in places like that, or even here in Delphi, from 2-3 to 5 everything closes down. It was fun to sit in the town square and watch the inhabitants slowly emerge to open their shops.
Last night we had supper at a true taverna, frequented by local old men where the only food on offer is anything roasted on a spit. It was good, and we had lots and lots of wine, tasty home-made stuff brewed by the owner, who lived in Ottawa for several years. I was pretty drunk, but suffered no ill effects this morning other than almost missing our bus to Athens.
So we took the 8:30 bus to Athens, which left us at Bus Terminal A. The bus to Delphi, however, leaves from Bus Terminal B. What were we to do? Find some helpful English-speaking Greeks and get them to help us, of course! We made Bus Terminal B ten minutes before the next bus to Delphi left and Delphi at 4 o'clock this afternoon. On the way we stopped for ten minutes just beside the Corinth Canal, so G got to see it up close like he'd wanted. It's a rather impressive piece of work. And to think it took over two thousand years to get it done!
It's beautiful up here, in the mountains. Our balcony overlooks a deep valley and we can see the Gulf of Corinth in the distance. Tomorrow, we visit the Oracle. What should I ask her?
