Greece: Elika, Kalamata, Olympia, Delphi, and Athens 🇬🇷
With two weeks in Greece, we decided to spend half our time on the Peloponnese, half in Delphi and Athens. We were lucky to spend the first few days with our friend Labi, whose family is from Elika, a small beautiful village on the coast. What a treat to hang out with a friend from home after five months on the road! He showed us around town, took us to the best beaches, and restaurants, and pointed us in the right direction for the next stops.
Our favourite restaurant in Greece was in Elika where we enjoyed bread & olive oil, Greek salad, saganaki, slow roasted pork, eggplant tapenade, and tzatziki. Wow. The ingredients are fresh, local, and full of flavour.
We also checked out nearby Monemvasia, a town carved into a mountain-island. We hiked up the mountain for the panoramic view of the gradient blues of the Mediterranean, and walked through ancient tunnels and buildings.
We spent a couple of nights in Kalamata, a funky city with a lively waterfront, lots of beachfront restaurants, a fair, and a big gated play area for kids that serves drinks to the parents. (I could see this on the Dartmouth waterfront.) The downtown beach is stunning of course (that blue sea again), and the water is perfect for swimming.
Next we went to Olympia and walked around the ruins of the ancient Olympics. We got there nice and early as to avoid a few thousand more tourists. After our tour, we splashed out in a hilltop hotel with an huge pool.
We left the peninsula to go back towards Athens, stopping in Delphi for two nights to see the elaborate ruins at the site of the famous oracle. The mountaintop town itself is sleepy, quaint, and full of stray cats.
Finally, Athens. It’s quite surreal to get off the metro, stroll up a pedestrian street, round a corner and see The Acropolis. It’s thousands of years old and beautiful, especially when it’s illuminated at night. We walked around the neighbourhood, went to the archeological museum, toured the Agora, and on the last day toured The Acropolis itself.
The rest of our time there we spent relaxing in our inspiringly decorated AirBnb. Our host had greeted us the first night with « the blessing », a shot of Greek grappa, and given us lots of information about the neighbourhood and sites. The next day he gave us a walking and snacking tour, where we sampled the best of the pastries, fetas, olives, etc.
We loved Greece. It was easy to travel, and we were lucky to have great hosts along the way. My dad’s papou was from Greece, and I knew a bit about Greek culture from my American cousins, so I enjoyed the feeling of connecting to more roots. (I also have been a DHS Spartan since ancient times, and I had to stop myself from filling up a suitcase with Sparta merchandise.)
Just a few more stops on the way home...😽
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