On 2011-07-03 17:40:42 +0000, Dan Stephenson said:

On 2011-06-24 05:35:00 -0500, tim.... said:

Peloponnese. he's going to be there for 10 days, so he's going to be
covering all of it. If he starts off in the south west he's still
going to have to drive to the bit in the NE

Laconia, actually. I drove all over the Peloponnese back in 2009; this
is a revisit to Monemvasia with a base at a nice hotel on the mainland
(Panorama Hotel). I want to revisit the ruins at Monemvasia - there is
a lot more to see than I did. I want to see where I can go around the
outside of the massif. I want to see how the Knights of St. John tried
to ascend on the northwestern side. I want to see if there are traces
of the ancient site of Minos that Pausanias mentioned in his
Description of Greece. There are are at last two other ancient sites
nearby, Epidaurus Limera and Zarax. Plus just relaxing. My vacations
have always been far more active than my normal daily life, but the
area around Monemvasia is just .. so .. relaxing... I would park a
ways to the south, near the rocky shore, roll down the windows and pull
back the sunroof, and lean back the car seat back... and relax to the
sound of the waves and scent of the ocean... very nice.

Finally getting back to this group -- and finally getting back to
Greece, perhaps my favorite destination in Europe.

Flying from Dallas through Frankfurt, I landed at Athens, and took a
taxi to my hotel near the city center. The hotel was Central Hotel,
which was fairly nice and had a very good breakfast. And the roof
terrace was a nice place to visit after a day of sightseeing, as it has
a view of the acropolis.

A very pleasant surprise is that the hotel is right across the street
from a tiny restaurant run by Marco and Asine, with great food, beer...
and Asine bringing shots of a liquor called raki. Wonderful!

When I last visited Athens in 2002 I unfortunately arrived the week
after the National Archeological Museum was closed for refurbishment
prior to the 2004 Olympics. This time a dream came true, by spending a
long but very very exciting day at the museum. This museum ranks up
there with the British Museum and the Vatican Museum. And amazing
place! At last, I could see the Mask of Agammemnon, iconic bronzes,
and the Antikythera Mechanism. As an engineer, I encamped in the
special exhibit room for the Antikythera Mechanism. Incredible!!

Another change from 2002, was the Acropolis Museum. In 2002 it was a
modest structure on the acropolis, but now it is a huge building at the
foot of the acropolis. The top floor is, in effect, a reconstruction
of the Parthenon, with all the available surviving marbles places as
they would be on the actual building.

The next couple of days were revisits to Delphi and Mycenae, my two
favorite ancient sites in Greece. By the way, you can no longer enter
the stadium at Delphi.

But the bulk of the trip was spent at Monemvasia. I lodged in a very
nice hotel, Panorama, in the mainland town opposite the Castle -- the
locals' name for the massif offshore and the the fortified lower town.
Nice balcony view, to sit, relax, read.

This was my base for side-outings. In particular, I got to visit
Epidaurus Limera and Zarax! I am SO glad I visited these places. And
the siting of Zarax is just.. superb. And furthermore, I took a walk
around the perimeter of the rock -- a great, great, half-day hike.

Anyway -- I made a travel webpage, hoping it helps someone else with
their travel planning.

GREECE IS AWESOME


http://stepheda.com/Greece_2014/Greece_2014_Index.html


Dan