The best laid plans of mice and man......

It was nice and flat to Argos, about 20kms and the plan was to catch the train up to Tripoli. Hey we're keen ,not stupid . It's on top of a mountain range!

  

    First coffee , then take in some of the history. Argos is the longest inhabited town in Greece. 

Right in town there's the theatre. In 400bc it held 20,000 people. Both sides were built up but time and pilphering took most of it. The old market is next door with the remains of a gymnasium dating back to the ancient Greeks . I wonder what the subs were ?

 Ok, time to catch the train

OH SHIT !

 That's the last time I buy a lonely planet that's  out of date.

  Ok, next plan , strip the bikes and hop on a bus

And wait, ...and wait....

Finally it came, about 4.30, but I swear it was sooo worth it. 

  We're getting really quick at this assembling bikes racket. We had them back together and on our way while the other travellers were still waiting for rides

We found a hotel in the main town square, the Galaxy, just before it started raining . Christine's pretty happy with the view from our balcony

Nafplio

Heck we must have hit the sack about 7.30 last night and so this morning we were ready to go at day brake . Unfortunately we had to wait for the owner to open up at 7am

This fruit stall was already open so we bought some bananas and kiwi fruit to finish our breakfast off ( muesli and yoghurt )

 Followed the coast for 15kms. It was very pretty with these wild olliandas all the way. 

  If I haven't got the flower right I'm sure someone's going to correct me !

Turning inland towards Nafpoli the road climbed gradually for the next 20kms ,all olive tree country dotted with lots of cute little churches. 

This one was built in 1640. Struth! Here we are trying to save the planet by biking everywhere and Christine's adding to global warming with all the candles she lights !

Stopped for lunch at the halfway mark in this typical Greek village. Loved the tractors everywhere ,and NOone wears helmets on motorbikes

Nafpoli is a tourist town being close to lots of historic sites. Bloody tourists ! Don't you hate them?

Anyway , the seasons not started yet and so we were able to get our room for €38 .Usually twice that. See the old Palamidi fortress up on yonder hill. Built by the Venetions in 1711-19

South to Peloponese

Thank goodness it's Sunday. Roads are quiet as we head for the ferry . They say Athens has the worst drivers and we just missed seeing a car flip onto its roof on a dead straight road beside us.

"Which way to the ferries mate?"

We stopped at an island on the way to Methana and unloaded some passengers. What a performance! The ship dropped anchor out in the bay and then backed in to the wharf ( really just a Seawall ) as waves broke over the wall cars and people rushed down the ramp between waves. 

  It was much calmer at Methana

Why did I choose this place to head south to ? It was the only place on the timetable I could pronounce !

 Anyway it was lovely. Smelt of sulphur as they have spa pools here, and A cute little harbour

Biking around the coast was beautiful, hills, but not too steep. 

It's 25' so we get through a lot of water

 As it's the first day on the road we only did 30kms and stopped at a lovely little pub in Kolloni. 

  When our host asked us what we  would like to eat we just said anything Greek. Wow! Pork and salad and stuffed peppers. Delicious but couldn't eat it all !

Can you see Methana on the little peninsula? Tomorrow we'll head for Nafplio.

Athens 😳

We touched down at 2pm and quickly had the packaging off the bikes and boarded the train for the city centre. €13 for both of us which I thought was cheap for the distance.

This road was last used by tourists ( not on bikes ) about 400bc

Our hotel, Tempi, was easy to find but we had to chain the bikes up outside until 10pm when they were allowed in the lobby. See the Acropolis in the background. Beautiful at night when they lit it up. The hotel's basic but at $70 quite a bargain.

Next day it was time to be a tourist. The old hop on , hop off bus is the only way to see this place as the Acropolis is on a BIIIG hill. 

Photos can't do this place justice! It really is sensational and we were most impressed by the ongoing restoration works. 1000 s of people daily come to see it (and photograph it) not because it was built about 500bc, but because it's the only building in Athens not completely covered in GRAFITTI !!   Fair go !

When the Romans came they built the 'Odeum of Herodes' ,still in use today!

        Always keen to help out, Christine gave the guard a hand to protect parliament. He looked grateful !

Apart from the historical sites, the markets and the variety of great buskers, Athens is fairly mundane. Tomorrow we'll head south

Perth

Normally too hot to squat, this time it was cold and sometimes wet! We took the train into the city to drop Susan off . She's staying with Samantha and Karen now

Christine and I used this visit to chase up a clue on my elusive ancestor John Wallis

  Up in the Perth hills there's a town called Walliston so we visited the history centre there and got some promising leads

 After making some good contacts it was getting time to move on .

So after celebrating Peter and Elisia's wedding anniversary we packed up the bikes ( note the extra cardboard ), and hit the road again . 

caught the plane actually !