Today we pulled in to Nafplion. We have a HAL tour booked at 7:30 am. Ancient Corinth and Mycenae. This is our first tender port. If one is not on a HAL tour, a tender ticket must be picked up which gives a tender time. Just a way to control passenger traffic. Tours meet in the mainstage and then are directed to the tender. It was a calm morning and the ride in was an easy 30 mins.
We met our guide, Ann, after we left the tender and boarded the bus.
The Corinth Canal was the first stop. This canal was a 2,000 year old dream. Connecting the Aegean with the Adriatic and eliminating the need to travel around the Peloponnese peninsula. It is believed that Periander( 602 BC), was the first to conceive of the idea. The project was too complicated back then. Plans were developed through the centuries. The final design was completed in the late 19th C. The canal is only 25 meters wide and makes it useless for today’s modern ships.
A bungee jumping business is set up underneath the Corinth Canal bridge.
Lots of mask police. The greeks feel the same was about all of the government demands. They feel that they are the only people on earth with a corrupt government. I assured them that they are not alone.
One of employees at an outdoor excavation sight we were touring insisted that after we toured the park we could not turn around and go in the museum. She was quite nasty to our tour guide. It was all Greek to me.
Ann was having none of this. She took us through the park, back up to the entrance and into the museum. Miss”put your mask on” was also working in the museum. She kept repeating the only line she learned in the liberal college she attended. “Put your mask on”.
We spent the entire morning touring the area. Many of the pictures show things from 1500 BC. Look and enjoy. Its difficult to remember so much history about all of these.
We had lunch at a nice local restaurant. We had moussaka, boiled potatoes, salad, lamb, and of course, baklava. We sat with a couple from Idaho. They had 6 kids and 29 grandkids. The women next to us was from Long Island. Her husband stayed back on the ship. We all discussed our travels in the past and in the future. Alaska and Antartica seem to be a popular destination. Folks on this cruise are amazed by the World Cruise we took. When we were on that cruise, we were “first time world cruisers”.
We started back for the tender port but made a few stops along the way. We arrived to pick up a tender at 3:30. Last tender to the ship was 4:30. No real chance to visit the downtown area.
The sea was rough. Water was pouring in through the side door. A woman near the door was completely soaked. After 30 mins or so the tender rounded the opposite of the ship where the sea was much calmer.
We met Tim and Kelley for happy hour and then went to dinner. We enjoyed the sunset from the back of the ship and played a few games. …