Our Day In Ruins
Stretching into the morning, it was surreal to see the Acropolis winking at us from behind the curtain. We had planned to leave the big smoke and embark on a little road trip out of Athens today, but first things first - we had to make a quick stop at the coffee shop downstairs. Ross showed our morning barista how to make a piccolo, which he’s now keen to add to his already extensive coffee menu. I had my usual cappuccino - more like a latte really as it’s pretty low on froth (also, sadly it seems they don’t put chocolate on top here).
The car hire place was just up the road so just a short walk to pick up our little Kia. This car had Apple CarPlay which was such a bonus, especially with the maps. As much as we’ve grown to love Greek talk back radio and Greek nightclub beats on every other station, it was nice to have a little break from that too. We programmed our destination - Ancient Corinth - into the GPS and Siri informed us it “may be closed”. Not being able to find any info online to back up this spurious claim, we ploughed on regardless, in the hope that she’d just got her wires crossed.
The road out of Athens was pretty slick - multi-laned, a speed limit of 130km and littered with tolls. Rossco had a handful of change which we’d put down in the cup holder in preparation for the tolls but when we came to a sudden stop, all the change (and a tube of cold sore cream) slid down into an abyss, completely unreachable, never to be seen again. Well that’s not entirely true, we may well have been driving along the highway leaving a trail of gold coins (not to mention cold sore cream) in our wake. Let’s hope they were found by someone who was short of a buck and had a cold sore.
Back to the toll booths. There must have been about 400* toll booths stretched across the road - an impenetrable barrier for the coinless to cross. *may be a slight exaggeration.
Initially we had wrongly assumed the hire car would have an e-tag, given the number of tolls around town. We had also accidentally gone to one of the few toll booths that was unmanned/unwomanned. The boomgate was firmly locked and the sign said ‘STOP! No coins, no entry!’, or more accurately: “ΝΑ ΣΤΑΜΑΤΗΣΕΙ! Χωρίς κέρματα, χωρίς είσοδο!” Rossco expertly backed us out of the lane, risking abuse and road rage from other road-tripping Athenians and deposited us safely into a lane complete with a friendly toll collector willing to take a note. Obviously the change was kept out of the abyss, our free money giveaways over for the day.
Every time we paid a toll today we got a paper receipt. It just reminded us how much people in Greece love their paper receipts. So used to being asked at home: “would you like a receipt?” and nine times out of ten, declining, cutting out the middle man so the shopkeeper can throw it away instead of you having to grab it and hang onto it until you find the nearest bin. It’s unheard of here to knock back a receipt. My first utterance of ‘oh don’t worry about the receipt’, was met with high eyebrows and an expression of sheer confusion - What do you mean you don’t want the receipt? - followed by the handing over of the receipt regardless. They just can’t bring themselves to withhold the receipt. Consequently, at the end of each day, you have a great wad of paper stuffed in your bag.
Approaching Corinth (Korinthos, for the Greeks out there), we were struck by how mountainous the terrain was. Lots of mountains congregate together, overlooking the bright blue Gulf of Corinth, the ancient part of the city up on a terrace, 90m above sea level, with the castle-topped Acrocorinth Mountain an imposing presence as it looks down over the little town. There’s a cute main street lined with shops on either side, offering souvenirs, snacks…and more souvenirs. The remaining 7 Doric columns of the Temple Of Apollo stand tall in the landscape and can be seen for miles around, where they have stood since 550BC! The Museum was packed to the rafters with artefacts, statues, figurines, tombstones (one still even had bones in it), mosaics, masks and Grecian urns. (How much’s a Grecian urn? Oh about $50 bucks a week - a Jeannie special).
Ross was impressed with the Corinthian mask from the 7th century BC (!) and I loved the incredible detail of the apparently mass-produced little clay figurines; literally thousands of which have been dug up. The ‘figurines of actors’ were not exactly flattering, one of them looking a lot like Dobby from Harry Potter. Give me a star on the Hollywood walk of fame any day, over a pudgy little clay statue with a wonky face, to be remembered by.
Down in the Agora, the ground was just littered with ancient relics and ruins. Weeds and wildflowers running rampant through the field, it looked like it was just a dumping ground for extremely old bits and pieces in a junkyard. You couldn’t tell what was an important piece of history from what was just a rock and as Rossco leapt onto what he thought was just a rock - an opportune vantage point for grabbing a quick snap - he attracted the attention of the female guard on duty, who loudly whistled at him and yelled “Oi!” I guess that wasn’t just any old rock.
We were particularly amazed and chuffed to be standing in the exact spot - the Bema - where the Apostle Paul was hauled before the proconsul, Gallio, by the Corinthian Jews, accused of breaking the law. (It’s recorded in Acts 18:12 in the Bible). So mind-blowing to be there and walk where he walked!
Next on our tour of ancient stuff was a trip up to Acrocorinth to check out the castle. Acrocorinth literally means Upper Corinth and it certainly was ‘upper’ long way! After centuries of souls walking the stones, they were worn down and quite slippery which, teamed with the gradient of the slope, made it a tricky walk. The castles, added to and multiplied over several different eras in history, were incredible. Gorgeous red poppies and UPBs (those unidentified purple blooms again) sprung from the ancient rock walls and the views down over Corinth and the sparkling gulf beyond were breathtaking. There was a cute little chapel at the top that curiously smelled like a bbq and lots of little peep holes where you could poke a spear through the fence.
On our way home, we travelled to the town of Nafplio, (we’re never sure whether the ‘p’ or the ‘f’ comes first) a gorgeous seaside town full of gorgeous shops and a plethora of Al fresco restaurants. The town was absolutely swarming with teenagers - they had taken over the town! Apparently it was an excursion, with high schoolers descending on Nafplio from lots of different schools in Athens. All the restaurants were full to the brim and the shop-keepers must have thought it was Christmas with all these cashed-up adolescents in town. Nafplio had a great atmosphere and Italian influenced architecture, wrapped in bougainvillea vines. We loved it.
Tonight we planned to go to the famous roof-top bar that our friends Al, Chelle, Tilly & Em had told us about and had been to a couple of weeks ago. There was only one problem. We had no clue of its name or of where in this thriving metropolis it could be found. With a bit of detective work, we narrowed it down to 3 possibilities (there are a lot of roof-top bars in Athens - who knew?) and comparing it to our friends’ photo we figured out where it was. Yay! Complete with an entire wall of fairy lights and an exquisite view over the Acropolis, the bar was pumping and such a gorgeous place to hang out. We met Evan, from North Carolina about to finish ‘school’ (assuming Uni since he was about 25) who insisted on taking our photo for us. We walked back through the cobblestone streets of historic Plaka, the city still crowded until late.
