Athens to Nafplio

I woke up at 8.30 and went down for breakfast, saying goodbye to many of my new friends. I met Kelli and Carine downstairs, and we went to Stavros Melissinos the sandal man. I bought the ‘Jeremy Irons’ model for €21, Carine got a second pair and her first pair adjusted, but Kelli couldn’t find any to fit her. I said goodbye to Kristie, Carine and Kelli and headed back up Athinas St to find the box office.

John called me on the way to let me know he still had things to do and might not make it. I turned right at Omonia down Panepistemiou and found the box office. The show at the Odeon turned out to be an Indian thing I didn’t want to see. I walked back to the hotel to formulate an itinerary to run past John over the phone if necessary. John rang to say he was on his way to the Arion and would meet me there in a few minutes. We worked out an itinerary that made sense, I asked him countless questions about what to expect, he gave me a map of all Greece, and he tried to ring the best hotel in Nafplio for me but there was no answer. He gave me last minute directions on how to get to the bus terminal, gave me a huge hug and left. What a man.

I packed all my papers up, got my bag and headed up Athinas St to the right bus stop. I got a suburban bus from Omonia to bus terminal A on the outskirts of the city, which took about 10 minutes and cost 50c. At the terminal, I bought a ticket to Corinth (KOPINΘOΣ), waited for half an hour and got on the bus. The scenery got more and more mountainous and the road hugged the coast most of the way. I learnt not to listen to music on Greek buses because while I looked out and saw the canal, and heard the tail end of an announcement (Fihtio I think), I didn’t know to get off there. It just looked like a stop at the side of the road where I was expecting the bus station to be the end of the line, so I continued down into Corinth proper, thinking that the bus station would be at the other end of the canal (John had said you could see the canal from the bus station). When I was the last person on the bus, I asked the driver and he said we’d passed the bus station and let me off at a ticket office – nearly driving off with my bag underneath until I realised and yelled and flapped my arms. I had trouble finding an English speaker in the ticket office but they were very nice and sold me a ticket back to the canal and one to Nafplio. They even stopped the next driver and helped me on – he was most likely going to Loutraki but let me off at a horrid roadside bus station instead of at the canal. He was quite rude too.

I checked at this bus station and they confirmed what the other bunch had told me - 5.30 to Nafplio. Trouble was, while most buses had destination signs, some didn’t, so I hovered the whole time fearful of missing it, and having strangers come up to me speaking rapid Greek. Eventually, right before 5.30 the Nafplio bus pulled in, properly signposted (NAΥΠΛΙΟ), and I got a seat near the front, but couldn’t see properly. At this point I went right off travelling alone on buses in Greece and cursed John soundly. I got a seat further up at Argos and arrived in Nafplio without further incident just before 7.

Using my Lonely Planet map, I climbed many stairs up and around the back of the old town and found Dimitris Bekas but it was full. The man was lovely though and directed me to Hotel Leto, which is at the same level but further west. I found it fairly easily and checked in to the €40/night room. It was nice enough. I was hot, bothered and tired by now, so I rested for a while, then ventured down into the town to get some food.  One look at the promenade and the water and the fortresses made me take back any hard feelings against John and made all well with the world. What a truly beautiful place. Every direction I looked gave me something to smile about and I snapped lots of photos. There is a series of probably about 10 or 12 cafes along the water with rows and rows of tables and interiors to die for. I have never seen such funky and original decors one after another in my life – I just wanted to take pictures of them all.

Instead, I went into the supermarket for food, juice and water, into a gyros shops for a really good chicken pitta then to the Lonely Planet’s top gelato shop pick (Antica) on the way back. It’s run by Italians and there are Italian flags everywhere and I was greeted with ‘buornosera’ as I walked in. It was a strange moment to be an English speaker in Greece and to be surrounded by Italy. The people were very friendly and I had a cup of chocolate gelato (delicious) while chatting to a really nice girl in English. I headed back up the hill and did some advance reading about my adventures over the next few days. I was feeling quite comfortable there by now – I think it was just the language that was the problem. Bed at 11.15.