Nafplio

We headed to the Peloponnese region of the Greece mainland this weekend. Our ultimate destination was Nafplio, a town that is supposed to be one of Greece's most elegant with a ton of ancient stuff to see on the way, so we were pretty excited.

I was even more excited not to be getting in a plane so I packed like a maniac...oh, that's right I brought as many over 3oz liquid bottles my short arms could carry. No need to worry about my stuff fitting in an overhead bin...of course I need these five sweaters and 2 coats! I'll be there for 2 days won't I?

Maria volunteered to drive us out of Athens and it really was lovely. Mountains, olive and orange groves, little herds of sheep...it was really nice. And better yet, our luck held out and it didn't rain. Which is apparently really good because Maria said she doesn't drive in the rain and we'd just have to sleep wherever we were when it started.

We got to our hotel without much hassle. Although it was here where my overpacking came back to bite me in the rear...2 flights of narrow stairs had to be navigated before getting to our room. Both rooms were very pleasant and with the help of the sweet woman from the hotel, also Maria, we headed out to the town square for dinner. Well, really we were headed out for snacks. Not even the elderly eat dinner at 7pm in Greece so our plan was to eat something light, have some wine then head to dinner by the water.

After our giant "cheese plate" (see the food blog for this story) and what I had thought would be a small cheese pizza we were too full to eat any dinner. We still headed down to the waterfront for some dessert and some of course more vino. We ended our night pretty early and had plans for a lot of sightseeing the next day.

Saturday morning arrived and it was clear Mother Nature had other plans so we hung in our rooms until the rain let up enough for us to venture out for a late breakfast. On our way out the hotel lady suggested taking the little train we'd seen out by the port to see a little bit of Nafplio.

Considering the weather we thought it was a good idea and climbed aboard. I'm not sure what we expected from a "miniature train tour" but when the kiddie music started we realized it was going to be a pretty painful trip. After this we decided to grab some lunch and try to salvage the rainy day with some massages and facials at the Nafplio Palace Spa.

Our late lunch allowed us to eat at a "decent Greek hour" and then we headed back down to the water to grab some drinks. We ended up in a little bar with decent music and a friendly owner that kept us entertained into the wee hours of the morning.

The sun returned on Sunday and after breakfast by the port we headed out to finally see some sights. We went to the ancient theatre of Epidaurus and the ruins of Mycenae. Both were beautiful, serene and definitely "must-sees" if you're in the Peloponnese region.

The wife did an amazing job driving us back to Athens and to our hotel. Although the rain slowed us down a bit on Saturday it was a nice weekend and a great way to start our stay in Greece.

After living in India for 2 months I can't tell you how nice it was to just be outside and enjoy such beautiful countryside. It really did our souls good.