Nafplio

After exploring the farmers market (see below post) I grabbed made lunch (bread from the bakery, graveria cheese, and smoked turkey from the deli, and pesto) and headed to the bus.

After an hour on the bus, we stopped over the channel for a quick snack/shopping break and then we continued for another 2 hours until we arrived at the quaint little town of Nafplio. We all unloaded our things, were grouped into threes and sent into our rooms. Nafplio is a town that is known for two castles - a huge one atop an even larger mountain and a smaller one that is on an island about 300-400 yards from the shore. We explored the area and were told to be back to the hotel by 7:15 pm for dinner.




Still getting used to the shift in eating times, I we left the hotel at 7:20 with the group, group leaders, and a man that appeared to be the manager of the restaurant we would soon be frequenting. We arrived at to an empty, modern looking restaurant which had obviously been cleared out for our group. Starting with wine, bread, water 5-7 plates filled with traditional greek appetizers were passed around. We all assumed that a main entre was coming, but it never arrived (we later found that appitizers were purchased so we could experience a variety of different tastes). Nonetheless, we finished our wine and headed out to a couple of the local bars. The night ended with everyone in our group dancing in the middle of a bar, surrounded by a group of gawking greeks and one of our instructors - Petros (who was also dancing).



The second day, we began our quest to climb the 999 steps leading to the top of the huge mountain which housed the second castle. The climb was really scenic, so it wasn't too bad. Once at the top I separated from the group and strolled. Everything was so beautiful and I had a lot on my mind, so I ended up just sitting for a good 30 minutes, just looking out on the city and surrounding miles.



While on the top of the mountain my friends and I saw an area where groups of tourists were swimming. Being hot and sweaty from the climb, we decided to join the other tourists after getting our swimsuits. We walked for a good mile or two and arrived at this amazing little beach. There were only a few people swimming but we decided to wade in. We quickly realized why the water was so empty - IT WAS FREEZING! After throughly numbing our legs we sat on the shore and spoke about how life changing this experience was and how it was important to make the most of every situation. Earlier (before we had gone in the water) I suggested swimming to the buies that were 70 yards from the shore. We both agreed to swim to the buies before we headed back to the hotel and set off.

We started swimming at a pretty quick pace, but at about 40 yards, my buddy muttered that he was turning back. I could tell something wasn't right by the look in his eyes. On the way back he breathlessly told me that he was having a hard time swimming because he was starting to loose feeling in his legs. As we approached the shore he began swimming slower and slower; I tried tugging on his swimsuit but it was obvious that I wasn't providing much help. He ended up making it to the shore okay, but we both realized that he could have died. We definitely had a life changing experience that we'll both never forget.

After a long and somewhat quiet walk back from the shore to the hotel, we showered and met the group leaders in the middle of town for a scavenger hunt. The group leaders told us to do and greeks so we group off again and went through the town asking random greeks for answers to questions about Nafplio. Realizing that most greeks would not being doing a silly scavenger hunt, our group grabbed some coffee from the cafe and talked for about 2 hours until the end of the hunt.

Later that night we grabbed dinner at this taverna that featured live music. Some of the girls I was with fell in love with the two 20-somethings playing the mandolins. I'm not gonna lie, they caused me to swoon. The experiences was amazing! Everyone in tehe restaurant knew the words to the song and an older greek women sitting at the table beside us got up and began doing a traditional greek dance! It was really cool but I soon left and went to a couple of bars before we ended up at club known as "The Level." This club was really cool - it featured traditional and modern music. I was impressed by the few greeks that knew the dance moves to Young Joc's, "It's going down." It was hilarious! Some of the greeks even knew some of the hooks from popular songs so I joined in and our groups began to merge. It was a good time.

School began today and I only had one class - Greece and the E.U. So far they're recapping the world history with an E.U. perspective, but it's still interesting though. More classes to follow and a trip to Delphi this weekend. I'll keep you posted.