We drove onto the island of Lefkada and I found a bed and breakfast last minute and we drove directly there and checked in. They were still opening up for the season, so they were very excited to see us and we were the only people there. I had bought a big can of peaches as a late night snack and hauled them up to our room, where the bag split open and dropped the can onto the very top of my foot, causing excruciating pain that lingered for the rest of our trip. After cleaning up, we went down into town to find something to eat. We ended up on the marina at a cozy little seafood spot where Brian had the best meal he's ever had in his life. Squid.
The next day, we drove all the way to the southern tip of the island to the most beautiful beach...reminiscent of Shipwreck beach on Zakynthos, complete with sheer white cliffs and the most beautiful blue water. Upon arrival, we were just about the only people there, and the beach was completely shaded. We hiked down, set up, and explored the beach while we waited for the sun to rise up over the rocky beach, illuminating the Gatorade-blue sea. I will say though, those little white pebbles were pretty dang painful to walk on....excruciating actually.
We decided to drive down to the Peloponnese Peninsula for the remainder of our time on the mainland. We found a really nice room for the night, and had dinner at their little restaurant on the water, then cozied up for a movie.
We ate breakfast and checked out and our host told us about his cousin's hotel in a town called Nafplion and that we should go see him and stay at his hotel. We didn't have much of a plan, so we decided to go for it.
Along the way, we had to stop at Olympia. It was much larger than I'd thought and we spent a couple of hours walking the ruins...which we, again, had pretty much to ourselves.
After a Magnum bar and peach iced tea, we continued on to Nafplion. It's a beautiful little town right on the water and is also known as "the most romantic destination in Greece". We found parking on the outskirts and then walked into the town center to see if we could find the motel and cousin of our previous host. It happened to be right in the plaza and was actually REALLY nice. We asked if they had any rooms available for the night and chose one with a balcony overlooking the square. We dropped off our backpacks and then set out to explore.
We decided to eat at one of the little spots right on the marina and people watched for a couple of hours.
We couldn't help but notice how many people were out and dressed up and found out that Nafplion has a really rich history and served as the first Capital of the Kingdom of Greece is the 19th century. That exact day happened to be their celebration of Independence...so basically their 4th of July. There was a really cool energy and everybody was drinking and enjoying their evening and then this happened.
We walked along the marina and then back into town where the holiday festivities were taking place...right outside of our room for the night.
In the morning, after an amazing breakfast, we made our way to the Palamidi Fortress.
On our way back towards Athens, we explored the Sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus.
We continued back to Athens, booking the cheapest place we could find with airport transportation. We ended up at a little apartment called "The Four Seasons"...which became a funny joke because of what a dive it ended up being, but it was a bed for the night. We checked in and then walked a few blocks into the nearest little square for dinner before showering and tucking in for the night before our flight to Oia the next morning.