Thursday 11 February 2016

The Waddy's lightening tour of the Peloponnese part one...

And we are going nowhere fast.
 On Monday we set off on our much waited for "world tour of the Peloponnese.  This is an area of Greece which we have not visited in the past other than transiting the north on the way to Athens or going to Patras.  We had decided that our first stop for a couple of nights would be at Olympia, the original location of the Olympic games some three thousand of so years ago.

Money problems with the regional council cause this.
The guy who owned the house which we originally lived in when we moved out to Assos actually lives there and we did think that we may stand a chance of bumping into them.  Just before we left we managed to find someone who knew them but of course as it was a whistle stop tour we didn't get a chance to renew our acquaintance.   We did however learn that his wife Yorta (incorrect spelling but that's how it's pronounced), is very ill, so we just sent or best wishes to them via this friend or theirs.  Shame.

Just some of the road block components.

But there's always a glass of wine waiting.
A visit to the ancient ruins there is a must and also the museums of which there are three in Olympia as well.  The only trouble is that although there is plenty of space and no crowds at this time of year they all close at three in the afternoon so it makes it a little tight when you've only got the one full day so we managed to get two museums in on the day we arrived and the site and final museum on the following, full, day.
She's not quite 3500 years old but following their footsteps.

Part of the temple to Zeus, one of the seven wonders.
Our Journey down there took over an hour longer than it should have due to tractors blocking the motorway before you get Messalongi resulting in a long detour, and then again as we approached Olympia when we had to take a unsurfaced road for about 10 Kms.  In the municipal area of Olympia (not in the village itself but for miles around it) there are huge piles of waste.

It seems that they have no space for land-fill and the money had been found for a factory to dispose of it but the money went missing!!  Perhaps this isn't a unique story but it's a real bloody mess.

Wednesday we set of for Sparta via Kalamata where we wanted to look at the marina.  We quite liked Kalamata and the marina, a little shabby but never the less we could have spent one winter there although I guess it could get very lumpy on the water with southerly wind blowing.
The carvings which formed the Apex of a Zeus' roof (poetic?)

The theatre at Olympia 

Part of the stunning 40km gorge between Kalamata and Sparta
 The scenery down the west side of the Peloponnese is really not that great compared to most of the rest of Greece which we have seen, in fact we were somewhat under whelmed by it.  However, the ride over the mountains from Kalamata to Sparta is something else.  Going from sea level right up over the highest peaks, normally well above the snow at this time of year but luckily for us not this time, although there was the remnants of it.  The road more or less follows a gorge for forty glorious kilometres, it's absolutely stunning. You are recommended to have tyre chains on this road, we didn't because we knew that to date the winter has been very gentle but we also knew that if things started getting bad we could reverse our passage and go the alternative route via the motorway to Tripoli.
Millions of Spider's nests in the trees

Road hewn through the mountain.

And sometimes hung precariously over you.
Sparta is a very bustling place I would imagine a little later in the year and judging by the amount of hotels there they must get loads of visitors.  It is a little "Spartan"(pun intended) with regards to having things to do though at this time of year, although the town itself is nice.  We looked high and low for an eatery doing something a little different but failed and as it was raining we returned to the hotel knowing that they did have a restaurant within.  We don't normally eat in hotels as they can be top price and bottom quality.  Not so this one we had a fantastic sole with shrimps (big prawns).  It was the best fish I have EVER eaten in Greece and with starter, bread, water and half a litre of good wine it came to thirty Euros for the two of us.  We have paid more than twice that for much less before.  I can therefore recommend the Maniatis Hotel, which is slap bang in the middle of Sparta very highly if anyone is thinking of going there, the breakfast was great too.

Today it's off to Nafplio but more about that next week.  If anyone wants more information on our hotels, The Pelops in Olympia, The Mantiatis in Sparta or the Byron in Nafplio, drop me a line and I'll give you the low-down.

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