Monemvasia

Monemvasia was an island off the southeastern part of the Peloppense, but now it is joined to the mainland via a causeway. Great place for a stronghold, so they built one.

This is the view from our hotel room's balcony.


There is a lower town, where hotels, shops and residences are located today, and an upper town, which is where residents would go in the event of an invasion. This is the main square in the lower town.



A fortress wall separates the upper town from a sheer cliff.



The upper town now features Byzantine ruins and footpaths leading from one to the next.



The trails were a bit overgrown but lovely, with wildflowers here and there. You can see the Agean Sea (although it was actually much bluer than it appears in this photo) and the lower town from here.

Mani

The Mani peninsula is located in the south central part of the Pelopennese. Kalamata (of olive fame) is the gateway town that leads to the rest of the peninsula. It has a port full of fishing boats.



The place where we stayed is a bit further on. We originally had hoped to stay in Kardhamyli, but all of its hotels seemed to be closed, so we headed out of town and found the Kalamitsi Hotel. It, too, appeared to be deserted, but we persisted till we found the proprietor. The lovely rooms are like little apartments with kitchenettes. From the collection of German-language novels on the bookshelves, I gather they get plenty of German guests in the warmer months. We could see olive and orange trees, as well as the sea, from our window.



The next day we explored the old section of Kardhamyli town, which consists of a small collection of ruins and churches on a hill. There was also a winding footpath that headed uphill for a few kilometers.



The Mani coast is quite pretty, studded with little fishing towns next to the blue, blue water.

Bassae

What's in the tent? Hint: it's large. For scale, look at the guard shack to the right.



Again, notice the difference in the size of the building on the right and the tent.



OK, give up? Turns out that inside is the Temple of Apollo Epicurius. The tent protects the temple from further deterioration. It is under a section-by-section restoration process right now.



For some reason, this 5th century BC temple is located on a remote mountaintop. It's a striking location, but how in the world did pilgrims make their way there, way back when? It's not near any known ancient settlements. Maybe only the truly dedicated (and strong-legged) made their way to this temple to the god of healing.

Olympia

From Delphi and Arahova, we drove southwest and took the futuristic and expensive (11.80 Euros, or about $17 at that day's exchange rate!) Rio-Antirio bridge to the Pelopponese.



Continued south and arrived in Olympia mid-afternoon. Had the whole archaeological site to ourselves, except for the guards. Here's the sole column remaining from the Temple of Zeus.



The Palaestra was the wrestling gym. It had a courtyard surrounded by columns, many of which still remain on site. Today the word "palestra" means gym in Italian. Interesting that some of their language comes from Greek.



The Philippeion was a memorial to guess who, Philip, and his family.



In addition to the site, there is an archaeological museum. Apparently this area was inhabited in pre-historic times. This bronze griffin head, which once graced the top of a cauldron, is from the 6th or 7th century BC!



Same goes for ol' creepy eyes here.



They've arranged the pediment sculptures in the museum so that you can see how they were originally meant to be viewed. This scene depicts a battle between the Centaurs and the Lapiths.

Back outside, we noticed a shrine like many shrines we saw along the roadside all around Greece.
	It includes some icons, matches, and wicks. See the little silver foot to the lower right of the candle? Someone with an injured foot came and prayed for their foot to heal.
This pretty shrub was nearby. Despite the fact that it's January, we saw a bunch of flowering plants.

Delphi

Delphi was the home of the famous Oracle of ancient Greece.



People used to come here from far distances to ask questions of the Oracle, who would often respond cryptically.



Current day visitors also come from distant lands, although I'm not sure they were there to hear prophecies.



The setting is stunning -- perched on a mountainside with a glorious view of the valley below.

Why go to Greece in January?

Because no one else is there, and you get all the beautiful archaeological sites to yourselves! We just got back from a trip there, and it seems all the other tourists stayed home. It was great, if cold. In fact, it was colder there than in Rome. The temperature was probably about the same (in the 40s Farenheit), but it was windier in Greece. We also encountered some snow in a couple of high-altitude spots.

The food was great, but alas, the coffee was ... um ... not so great. (I guess I've just become used to the taste of Italian coffee, and the choice of Nescafe / chewy Greek coffee / weak cappuccino just doesn't cut it.) A pleasant surprise was the ubiquity of pastry shops. Greeks apparently love pastry, cookies and baked snacks, and there are good bakeries everywhere. We quite enjoyed the not-too-sweet but rich in flavor cookies. The fresh, warm-from-the-oven spanakopita (spinach pie) was also a treat.

Pictures of spots around our driving tour of the Peloponnese coming soon.

Buona Befana

Did you get gifts or coal in your stocking today? In Italy, January 6 is the day when La Befana, a witchy-looking old woman on a broomstick, delivers presents to good children and coal to bad ones. Babbo Natale, or Santa Claus as we call him, has only been around since recent years, according to my Italian workmates. Back in their childhoods, gifts were not received on Dec. 25, but rather on Jan. 6, Epiphany.

Apparently the cashiers in the cafeteria at work celebrate Epiphany by giving out little chocolates with one's change. I like this.