Greece Day 13 - Nafplio & Environs 9/12/19

Pics HERE

9:30pm: back at the hotel room after a fun day. We took our time getting ready this morning and went to breakfast a little after 9am. The spread was as advertised, a veritable feast of sweet and savory treats, most homemade or of the hotel’s own production. It was delicious! After filling up on treats, we set out for Epidavros, home to one of Greece’s best theatres, and it was sure impressive! The other ruins were kind of lame but still interesting.

On the way back to town, we stopped at a ceramic workshop/showroom and did a bit of damage. They gave us a 20% off end of season discount!

We then stopped at the top of town at the Palamidi Fortress, a Venetian fortification at the top of the town. If you don’t want to drive, your other option is walking up 999 stairs from town - no thanks! From the fortress, there were great views over the port and bay and some interesting structures. We then drove back into town and parked the car at the first spot we could find, then meandered through old town for lunch. We had a tomato and cucumber salad and I had chicken souvlaki, Matt had meatballs. We wandered around town a bit and got some gelato at a traditional Italian style shop and then went back to the hotel for a rest.

We set out for dinner a little before 7 and went to a place a little more in the modern town about a 10 minute walk away called Menta - I had heard about it but one of the people from our hotel specifically suggested it so we wanted to try it. It is a meze bar meaning mostly small plates. It was nice to see some different things on the menu. We split a watermelon/tomato/feta salad that was awesome, a bruschetta with local cheese, artichokes, and tomatoes, and a risotto with paprika and chicken pieces. Declicious unique dinner for about 30 euros!

After dinner we wandered back through town. Matt wanted to try a couple of watering holes so we did that and made a reservation for a wine tasting tomorrow at a main wine shop in town.

I keep forgetting to comment on a few things I have noticed so far here in Greece:

• They don’t really put salt on the food here. If you want it, you have to add it. Even on something obvious like fried potatoes.
• The number of stray cats and dogs everywhere is alarming, Apparently some places they are actually collared and vaccinated but it is still sad.
• 95% of the restrooms in hotels, restaurants, etc. here have signs asking you not to put any paper at all in the toilet. Apparently the pipes here are so old and small that toilet paper cannot even be accommodated. 

Tomorrow it’s more ruins in the area!