Our first day on the road in Greece, we wanted to get a good start on the day, so we woke up at 6:30AM, and after a short (but sweet) breakfast on our balcony, we headed to the car, cranked the local station of traditional Greek music, and began making our way to Ancient Corinth.
It wasn't long before we arrived, and first made our way to the museum which although much smaller than the Acropolis Museum in Athens, was very impressive with quite a lot of statues and other artifacts. Although still relatively early, by the time we began exploring the ruins it was already sweltering. Still, we spent around an hour walking around, and taking in what was left from a time long ago.
By about 12:30PM, I was well ready for lunch, so we stopped at a small super market in Corinth to get a couple lunch things, and then sat on the church steps (one of the few places that was shaded) for a peaceful lunch.
Hitting the road again, we had a relatively short drive on to Mycenae, another archeological site. At the top of the acropolis of Mycenae are the ruins of a palace surrounded by houses, which was supposedly the capitol of Agamemnon. Despite the heat it was a nice walk up, with a wonderful vista awaiting us at the top. After we had our fill of exploring, we walked through the museum, and then continued on our way.
As the sun began its lazy decent in the late afternoon we arrived in Dimitsana, where we would be spending the night. I immediately felt enchanted by the town, which nestled into the hillside. The rusty red roofing in contrast to lush green forest created a storybook landscape. We were all extremely excited for our hotel (En Dimitsani Guesthouse, link here), which had been a bargain (since it was the off season) but looked luxurious. The owner came out and greeted us on the outer patio just as we parked, and immediately seemed enthusiastic to have new guests to entertain. After checking in he rushed to grab all of our bags, assuring us that he had to show proper hospitality!
We settled into our cozy room, and shortly headed into town. Dimitsana's population is just about at 400, and is a classic European villa with cobbled streets, endless inviting alleyways, and 24 little churches scattered throughout! Pretty soon we chose a restaurant, and because we were dining on the early side (6:30PM) we were the only guests! The meal was another classic Greek with souvlaki, tzatziki, Greek salad, rose, and even some yogurt and honey to finish the meal! The food was wonderful, but the view made the meal even more incredible, because we gazed out onto the mountains.
Although we had already seen a lot of street cats in Athens, it was nothing compared to our dinner in Dimitsana. Throughout the entire duration of dinner there were five cats waiting eagerly near our table, one of them with a bad--and fresh--gash over his left eye. It's truly heartbreaking to see what a problem Greece has with feral animals (mainly cats, but also dogs).
After dinner, we headed to a cafe at the center of town to meet a priest who was going to open one of the churches and show us around (something arranged by the friendly hotel manager). The priest was very cheerful man, and although he didn't know very much English, we played a bit of charades and we able to communicate well enough.
After our 'tour' was over, we explored the town more, each new turn bringing us to yet another enamoring sight. Eventually it was beginning to grow dark, so we headed back to the apartment to shower, relaxing, and get some sleep.
xx
Erin
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