Off The Greek Islands
Trip Start
Mar 29, 2006
1
20
34
Trip End
Aug 29, 2006
Napflio, Greece
Saturday, June 3, 2006
But since I got so stuck on the islands (and who wouldn't really?!?), my visit to Napflio was my small attempt to actually get to see some history, instead of just beaches :)
Napflio is a small town of about 80,000 (I believe). It's divided into two areas: old town and new town. The old town is where I stayed and is absolutely charming. Although it has the usual touristy shops it also has many speciality and unique shops, which were nice to visit. The new town is just that. It has grocery stores, a cinema, etc. The charm really lies in the old town.
Beside the old town and up on the hill is the Palimidi Fortress. To get up you have to climb about a thousand steps (or drive up - your choice). I took the stairs. As I arrived to the entrance gasping for air, I took out my money to pay the entrance fee. IT took me forever but I finally gather my change to pay the four Euros. The fella behind the counter did not speak english and it turns out that the entrance was free that day. I felt very silly. Anyway, the fortress was very cool. Most of it is still intact, most likely due to reconstruction. But none-the-less it is a very impressive place and I could imagine that it was quite the city at some point.
Next I headed to Mycenae, which is about an hour bus ride outside of Napflio. Again quite impressive but unlike the fortress it was hard to really get a good sense of the town since most of it really is in ruins. The best part here was this old greek guy who worked there.
I was reading some information sign and he wandered up and started to point out where things were on the picture, which was great because I couldn't tell at all what things were. Anyway, I thanked him and he put his arm around my waist and led me to another part to show me some more stuff. He made idle chit chat in very poor english and I just mostly smiled. My attempts to get away from him were ignored and unsuccessful. Between his very tight grip around my waiste and several attempts to kiss me, I was starting to get uncomfortable. Fortunately a woman from my bus came up (her name is Lias) and we started to chat (primarily about this guy and what was going on). He wandered off and I was free at last. Sometimes I am amazed at how timid I am with forward men. I'm so worried about hurting their feelings. Ahh, something to work on :)
Anyway, I ended spending the rest of the day with Lisa, which was great. We went to the beach, had a frappe, then wandered around the town. Later on we met up for drinks with one of the local men she had met at the fortress.
The next day I started my journey back to Italy...
