Olympia and north Peloponese

We rose to a fairly ordinary breakfast and then travelled a short distance to the site of the ancient Olympics. The English speakers again had our own guide. Unfortunately he was not as excited in his work as the lady we met yesterday. He showed us around in a fairly tired fashion. We saw the spot outside the temple of Hera where the modern flame is ignited; the Olympic stadium and other important ruins including the remains of the temple of Zeus.

We were then taken to the museum which has exhibits from the site. Here Anna and I had a coffee. Unfortunately, in our efforts to avoid very strong European espresso we ended up with instant and it was terrible.

Now we returned to the bus and headed back to Patra. The trip was just as uninteresting as the night before but Ania introduced us to some Greek culture. She explained that many people wear an eye. This protects the wearer from headache. Anna bought one and has not suffered headache since. Another custom is to hang a plat of garlic on the door of your house to protect it from evil spirits. We have one on our door in Krakow now.

Our destination in Patra was a winery. My expectations were not high but I was pleasantly surprised. The winery had some huge kegs with quite special engravings and reputedly quite special contents as well. We were given a tasting of both a red and a white wine. These were demi sec but a request to Ania produced a good dry red which very few people seemed to like.  I stepped up to the plate for my fellow travellers.

The next transfer was thankfully short. We travelled to the Diakofto–Kalavryta Railway, an historic narrow gauge railway that runs 22 Km through mountain gorges. There are bridges over Vouraikos River at many locations and numerous tunnels. Passing loops exist at Niamata, Triklia, Zachlorou and Kerpini. Parts of the track are quite steep and at these points the engine changes from conventional traction to rack and pinion. The carriage was air conditioned which was both good and bad. The temperature was great but opening the windows for photos was frowned upon.

Lunch was impromptu. We walked as a group, about 40 of us, to a likely restaurant. Most people picked by pointing. Here we first noticed “babcia”. She was a lady well into her 60’s travelling with her grandson who later came to be known as “the jerk”. Babcia commented that the restaurant was too expensive and went her own way.

Later this afternoon Babcia appeared to be in a bad way. She might have had a drink at lunchtime, I don’t know but she was not feeling well. She moved to the front of the bus. The jerk then proceeded to bad mouth her, describing all her personal habits to the bus. A number of people found this amusing and this encouraged the jerk to continue. Anna and I wondered how humiliating this must have been for Babcia. Still he continued. Eventually Ania stepped in and distracted the bus and the jerk desisted. I saw a couple of incidences where Ania headed of a potentially difficult situation. She was a good people manager.

We spent the rest of the afternoon travelling along winding mountain roads to Argos on the Gulf of Argolis. Here we stayed in the Esperia Hotel. This rates as one of the worst hotels we have every experienced. The food was poor and in short supply, the internet did not work and the TV had to be replaced. The staff were suitably rude and unhelpful.