Morocco, Greece, Egypt, Jerusalem & More: Greece

Delphi was simpler than Athens, yet unique and cool. Well we were in for a far simpler experience than that even with our next location - from “famous” countryside to “in the middle of no-where” countryside: we had rented a house in the farmlands. After driving around the Gulf of Corinth, and heading south a bit, we entered a place where nobody speaks English. Some pics driving around -

Perfect shaped breastfeeding stone with amazing view

It was nice to be able to get away from the touristy parts of travel, yet still be a 30 minute drive from Mycenae and Nemea, places we wanted to visit. A different kind of Greek experience, I stared off the first morning in the “farmlands” with a run. I saw a mountain of pure white, likely a mine or excavation site of marble, and started off down a long windy dirt road towards it. After a couple of miles I came close but was unsuccessful at getting through the properties/ mines to find a trail to take up it. On the way back, as I was passing fields of olives and other crops, I glanced to my right and noticed couple of large dogs atop a hill barking up a storm towards me. One hopped the fence and started sprinting towards me, soon out of sight (being level with the field, its crops in-between, and me) and heading my direction. I quickly grabbed a rock the size of two fists and picked up the pace to a near-sprint down the road and over a hill, hoping to avoid the conflict. Although likely the dog would just bark, I’ve been bitten a couple of times and have learned my lesson so that when it comes to meeting a dog that believes you have broken one of its rules or territory or proximity, its better to be ready for worst cases and if anything goes down, hold your ground with confidence. The dog never appeared over the hill, or the next one, as I had slowed down but still was in zone two the rest of the way back.

A shower, breakfast, and Nova prep time later, we were driving through the curving countryside to Mycenae and its famous hilltop. In choosing this location for their Capital, surrounded by cliffs, they had superb resistance to attack. They could also see the Mediterranean in the distance from atop the hill, providing critical time if invasion was eminent from sea. In addition, they were able to funnel water from the nearby mountains into the fort and used castle walls to create a “man-made” cliff wherever the slope wasn’t precarious enough. These things all contributed to the safety of the most important members of the society, a refuge for the cultural tombs, and were a big assist against sieges. It also likely gave the Mycenaeans time to “talk” to the invaders, which for the Mycenaeans was a way of life. In fact, they didn’t even have an army… they were so famous for negotiation and trade; and so amazingly good at it that they were literally able to talk their way and trade their way out of nearly any situation and eventually, through these skills, build what became one of the most vast empires, stretching all across Europe and beyond.

Climbing up to these sites, we entered the ancient excavation by passing under the Lions Gate, a support stone weighing around 20 tons, compared to the Egyptians stones and building blocks which weighed on average 2.5 tons. We passed the ancient burial site where mounds of gold objects were discovered and wrapped around the hill to descend down into the underground cistern. It was here that they kept their precious water store. We imagined all of the steps filled with water as we ascended from the bottom in the darkness, using our cell phone as a flashlight.

Exiting the area we soon we found ourselves, a short 2 minute car ride later, at Agamemnon’s Tomb (Although, to be clear, its probable that there never was an Agamemnon. And this site is also dually known as the Treasury). A World Heritage protected site, this tomb was definitely worth the stop. The way that the outside is built, it appears as though you are ascending as you are flanked on either side by a huge wall that continues to rise higher and higher until it meets the top of the dome itself that you enter. Once inside, there were a few interesting discoveries. One was that the main critical support stone weighed an amazing 130 tons. Thats ridiculous they were able to construct this 3500 years ago. In addition, the ground had nails that were made of pure gold pounded into the floor, which were still visible and just lends to the imagination of the Mycenaean wealth. Finally, the people worshiped Mother Earth and therefore didn’t believe in burial, but rather that the dead simply be laid on the floor in the big circular tomb and be allowed to deteriorate.

Gold Nails

Our House

Being pretty efficient with our time, we headed Nemea for lunch. Although a smaller town, my research pointed to the place being better for food. Danos and Anastasis restaurant delivered for sure. Very authentic, different & local, great, with good service and the World Cup playing! What a combo: we were happy! With rain impending, and having had quite our fill of ancient history over the last few days, we decided to visit a couple of winerys and do wine tasting instead of walking an ancient site in the rain. Starting with Ktima Palivou, I think they had the best wines and we got a bottle of some amazing Cab. Ktima Bairaktaris was our second stop, with the best facilities, most fun wine tasting, and accompanied by snacks to make an overall better experience. Though Kitma Palivou has the better wine ;)

Our final day in the countryside of Greece was spent taking a trip south to the coast and city of Nafplion. It was fun to get back to a town with a bit more modern history: two military forts, one of which was on an island in the water of the bay, and a palace. Candace could also do some shopping here, with a ton of options so we just walked the streets, passing through plazas and shops, stopping for a snack here or there. We enjoyed the afternoon and ended with walking the waterfront & piers after a great dinner at a great, unique Italian spot we had researched: Scuola.

NOW we are ready to fly to Santorini, a famous greek island in the Mediterranean. We are looking forward to staying on this volcanic crater and seeing what all the hype is about!

A couple of notes -

One, Candace wanted to make sure that a note was made that she was disappointed in Saganaki cheese (flaming cheese) because she thought that the greek would light it on fire, like in America at Greek restaurants. No place was doing this… so a bit of a disconnect on where that came from - haha. We probably just need to research it a bit. Two, we found that having a second room when traveling with an infant is clutch. She will stay sleeping easier, and later; as well as allow us to use the kitchen to cook, or to watch a movie/ the World Cup in the other room without resorting to headphones. This pushes us even further in the direction of Airbnbs and such.

And Three, Nova has been pushing around chairs and walking them throughout the room. She also can stand by herself for a while as well as clap, wave back at people, do high fives, crawl up and, now, back down stairs by herself and grab the spoon to feed herself during feedings. Almost every day is something new!