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Got up fairly early. Today we return to Athens and then on to Napflio. After another bountiful, tasty breakfast of pancakes slathered with Nutella and two cups of coffee, my motor was running. Our flight was at 10:30 am so we headed for the airport about 9:15. The island is small, so our drive was less than ten minutes. There’s wasn’t a ton of signage or information as to flights so we sat and sat until finally our flight was called. There are no skyways here where the weather is mostly nice, so at the appointed time we took a long walk to our waiting plane.
It was a quick 30 minute flight back to Athens. We landed, grabbed our luggage and trudged the mile to the Hertz rent-a-car lot. There was a certain point where I was sure that I wouldn't make it. Got the car and hit the road for Napflio. The highway is superb- four large lanes with a perfect surface. So smooth sailing We stopped briefly at the Corinth channel, a passageway for boats and ships that was started thousands of years ago to provide a shortcut for boats between the Adriatic and Aegean Seas. It was never completed in ancient times and the project was restarted in the late 1800’s. But due to the difficulty and cost of finishing, it was never completed so that the big ships could pass through. Still, it is an impressive project with sides that go straight down probably 100’ to the water. The only excitement now is the bungee jumping that takes place from the bridge. We got a couple of shots and then grabbed a quick lunch at the tourist fast food sites nearby.
After eating, we jumped back on the freeway and traveled the rest of the way to Napflio. Napflio lies on the ocean in the deepest harbor of the Mediterranean. It’s a picturesque setting. It also lies at the end of a long, wide agricultural valley with huge groves of orange and lemon trees, vineyards and fields of herbs. We followed our directions as best we could and ended up at the fort that sits on top of the hill above the city but with no pension in site. We lugged our suitcases a couple of blocks at a steep angle before discovering our mistake. Even after discovering our error, we had no idea where to go. Susan called and found out that instead of going up we needed to go down, that the pension lay just a little below the fort. The most striking feature of Napflio is the ruins of a magnificent fort (a different one) that is built on the very top of the highest hill in town. It can be reached via a very steep 999 step stairway. After talking it over with Susan, it feels like I may be taking that trip alone.
At 5 pm we walked down to the “Old Gate”town square to meet our guide for our city tour. Her name was Gina. She was great. Very personable with a good sense of humor and a lot of historical information.
We walked for many blocks in the old city while Gina discussed the history of Napflio. It’s hard to imagine a city with more history and drama. Like the rest of Greece, Napflio was conquered several times by the Venetians, the Romans and the Turks. The history of the country really only starts in the 1820’s and was in flux up until the end of WWII. Our trip lasted about 90 minutes. We visited the home of the great revolutionary hero, Ioannis Kapodistrias, took visits to a couple of historic Greek Orthodox churches that dated from the 1500’s, and the church where Kapodistrias was assassinated in front of in 1831. The churches are clausophobic but ornately decorated.
We also looked at many of the historic buildings in the city as well as some of the horrid monstrosities like a hotel built inside the fort walls on one of the most important and scenic places in the city and now abandoned and graffiti covered- “probably somebody’s cousin”, said Gina.
We stopped at an ice cream store for samples (Have as much as you want!) including a locally made lemon version made from the juice of the owner’s lemon tree and finally ended up at a gourmet cheese shop where we were treated to amazing Greek cheeses, meats and breads while sampling a couple of bottles of the local grappa. Grappa, we found out, is made of the leftovers after the grapes have been squeezed. It’s made from the stems and skins of the grapes.I can’t say that I liked it very much, but the price was right and Gina kept our glasses full. The assistant in the shop did the tasting until the owner, George showed up. She described the five different types of cheeses and the intricacies of each. For example feta has to be at least 70% sheep’s milk. It cannot be mixed with cow’s milk. If it is 69% sheep’s milk, it cannot be called feta. George’s family started making cheese a couple of generations ago and he still has the knowledge and passion to keep it going. They sell only the best locally sourced cheeses and meats.
It was fun to listen to their descriptions of the various varieties of cheese and to get a good sampling of each. It all ended with an exquisite moist feta cheese with a lovely syrup of local cherries. It was clear that our guide Gina was really enjoying the Grappa and would have liked to have gone on for a couple more hours. Alas, all good thing must come to an end. We then decided to try a local restaurant that she suggested called Visili’s. Susan had a nice seafood saganaki while I had fried filo in pastry. Nothing special and I was still pretty full from our previous eating excursion, but it was a lovely setting and good people watching.
Afterward we strolled down to the waterfront and took a walk to the end of the pier to get a better look at the fort all lit up in the harbor and to walk off our dinner and drinks. Our pension lies at the top of the hill just under the fort so the last 100 feet are accomplished by going up several steep flights of stairs. It is a challenge. It felt good that I burned off a little bit of the booze and cheese, but we were both pretty spent by the time we arrived back home. As I sit here looking out our window onto the city and harbor far below, I am again impressed by the absolute quiet and tranquility of the night. There’s no reason not to sleep soundly tonight.