Alex Stone comes to Greece by Kimberly Lesher

I know I know it has been SO long. I am truly sorry. I have not had much motivation to write lately. I just finished up what is called my Teacher Work Sample for my student teaching course and I think it took every ounce of motivation out of me to write anything. Anyway you haven't missed much except for a few trips. Alex came over and we spent a few days in Nafplion. Nafplion is the most gorgeous town in Greece I think. It is located in the Peloponnese part of Greece, about 2 hours away from Athens. We took the train so it took us a little longer. Nafplion is an old city and was the site of the first Capital it has some amazing views, shops, food and the people are super friendly. In Nafplion there is a giant castle called Palamidi on top of the two hills in the city it has a pretty interesting history. It played a major role in the Greek war of Independence. I am not going to go  on and on about it but if you would like to look it up on Wikipedia I recommend it. It was pretty rainy and cloudy there while we were there but there was still plenty to see. When we first arrived we decided we needed to climb to the top of the "hill" that Palamidi is on. Don't let the label of hill fool you. It is quite the climb. It is more than 2000 steps to reach the top of the fortress. We got to the admission gate and were disappointed to find that the fortress closed in 10 minutes. We decided not to waste our Euros and to return another day, as we took our shaking legs back down the hill we got quite a spectacular view of the city and the coast. We then headed to the beach and the cliff walk. It was the first time I had ever seen anything resembling a tide pool. Although the Mediterranean does not really experience much in the way of tides things still get washed up in the rock pools and it was interesting to see the little crabs and urchins. There were a few people that ventured a swim but neither Alex or I was looking for that type of rush on that particular day. There is another section of the castle separate from the one on the hill that is open to explore at your own will that we ventured up to as we were making our way around. There wasn't a whole lot to see but it was still really humbling to be standing in such a big place were people once conducted their daily lives.
On Tuesday we went to an Island by the name of Spetses. Our hotel conscierge had told us it should only take us an hour to get there by bus and then just a few minutes by fairy. He was wrong. We spent most of our day on the bus it took a little more than 2 hours to get there, and I got terribly car sick winding our way through the hills and valleys. Worst of all we really struggled to communicate with the people in the small towns that we had to stop and change buses in. All I could say was we want to go to Spetses and they would point to the bus we were to get on and wag their head. Just when I was about to give up we arrive at the coast and saw the shining island across the way. We took the fairy and the water was beautiful just like what you see in the movies. Bright blue with red and green islands with white houses all around. I felt like we could make a post card. We got off the fairy and began walking around the city. The walk ways were incredible pieces. They were made up of white and dark stones and laid out in decorative patterns. I can't imagine the work that must have gone into constructing them. We had lunch on the island and then because it took us so long to get there we had to head back fairly quickly. We took a water taxi back to the main land just as a storm began to roll in. Bringing the rain once again. We rode back in style on our Mercedes Benz bus and I had found some Dramamine by that time so I was good to go. The trip back took half the time. You wouldn't believe how our big touring bus fit though some of the narrow village streets. These drivers are real pros. We had a coffee and later pizza that night and decided to peruze the shopping sections of the old town, stopping at a couple of the many Icecream shops that are around the town.
On our final day we went back up to the castle. It was really foggy that day and we couldn't see much of the town. I think we spent the whole day walking around in the rain cloud. We were both soaked but the castle had so many parts to explore and things to see neither of us noticed how soaked we were. We stayed warm by hiking all over the the grounds. It was again really surreal to imagine what it must have been like to live in such a place. It was incredibly exciting to see the dwellings and prisons and churches in the castle. While there are places where grass covers much of the ground you can tell that at one point it was a significant place to be by the buildings architecture. After we came back down we got on the train and headed back. Not before hitting up a few more Ice cream shops of course we needed sustenance for the trip back.
On Thursday we had another nice day so Alex and I headed to where else? The Acropolis of course. There was a strike on all forms of Public transportation that day so we had to take a cab to get there. We had a great time exploring the city and I took Alex to St. Paul's rock which is one of my favorite places. After that walked to the Greek Agora and had dinner in Monistiriki. We had the meat sampler platter which included all the great fast foods of Greece but surprisingly no fish or Lamb. There were some classic sausages, pork and chicken. It was all really great food. We wrapped up the last of the day light hours with the Roman Agora, the Gate of Athena, The Roman Toilets and The Tower of the Winds. Which is also one of my favorite parts of Athens. We hiked up Philopappou Hill to watch the sun set over the sea, ending an almost perfect day.
Friday Alex thought we should stick with our hiking up really large hills theme of the week and take on Lycavitos also posted previously as Mount Lycabettus. (both are correct) we started the hill from an unfamiliar place and ended up winding through a park which was much more enjoyable than all of the steps that I had take before. When we reach the summit the church was open and we went inside. They didn't allow us to take pictures unfortunately but on every surface of the walls there were paintings. One half had stories from the New Testament the other half had depictions from the Old Testament. The paintings were backed by dark blue colors and there was gold framing each depiction on the ceiling and walls. After I had take my fill we headed up to the Olympic Stadium. It is spectacular viewing it from the train, unfortunately it has fallen into a bit of disrepair. The grounds are unkempt and there is not much to see there but the pool was open and there were people using it for practice. It was really exciting to be in the pool you could almost feel the energy that was there during the Olympics with some of the flags hung and the hot tub whirling.We met friends for coffee that afternoon and then later that evening we went to several of the hot spots around Athens for night life. Kolonike is one of the posh neighborhoods that we visited first after we made our way down to Panormue which is considered a sort of boho or artistic place to be. We shared some drinks with friends and headed home at around 4 in the morning. Most Mediterranean bars don't really get going until 12 o'clock or later so nights end up being much later. But the scene is fairly similar to any other bar you see in the US. Maybe even less dancing then in the states. Saturday was spent just meandering around Dafni where I live and enjoying the last hours of any homeyness Alex brought with him. We got up at 3:30 Sunday morning and I took Alex back to the Airport and came home. There is more of course to tell from after he left but I will save that for another post a month from now. Just kidding. Be looking pictures and Part II some time this week.
I miss you all VERY MUCH!
Yassas