Day 54 - Long long day, Ancient Corinth and Nafplio

It was such a long day today, but I had a great time exploring!

I started out with my usual walk, bus and train, but then I had to transfer to a different train, and then to another.
Yes, that's a walk, a bus and 3 trains. All between 9 and 11am. That's okay though, I've adjusted. It gave me time to read my new book, "The Night Circus". Very good. I'd highly recommend it.

When I finally arrived in Corinth I found that the train station is actually quite a ways off from both new and ancient Corinth, it's kind of on the outskirts. I had no choice but to take a taxi, which I'm generally against, but there was no option of walking and no buses there.
It's ok. The driver wasn't a serial killer.
The taxi took me right to the museum and ruins in Ancient Corinth and this is where I spent my afternoon.
The first thing you see when you arrive are massive columns, once part of the Archaic Temple of Apollo. Of course they are just simply columns now, but quite exciting to see anyway. The ruins go far beyond the temple and are all quite interesting to see. Sites range from basilica's to shops, stoa's, temples, fountains (that you can still hear water running inside) and baths as well as an odeon, a theatre and a large main agora. You can also see the ancient road. In some places you don't really see anything more than just stones, but then in other places you can clearly see shapes or even small buildings. It takes quite a long while to walk through the entire place and it can't really be rushed or all you would see is stone.
I overheard from a tour guide as I was walking around that they didn't allow animals into the city because they wanted it to stay clean. She said if someone came on a horse-drawn chariot that he would leave it outside the main gate in what was essentially a "parking lot".
This site was occupied continuously from the Neolithic period to the Middle Ages and so has been used and influenced by many different people.

After the ruins I went into the connected museum where they have on display some of the artifacts that have been discovered. Pottery, wall paintings, mosaics, statues, figurines, etc. Some of the things are absolutely amazing. So beautifully detailed. You can really see how much time and effort and talent would go into making these pieces.






The museum is quite small and doesn't take very long and so I had some time to kill before catching a bus back to New Corinth. I walked the streets of modern Ancient Corinth (weird, I know) and poked around a few shops.
Later on while looking in my travel book I realized I hadn't seen the Acrocorinth. I'm not really sure how I missed it since its a huge fortress on top of the mountain that plays backdrop to Ancient Corinth. At some point I think I'll go back and see it.

Next up was the bus to New Corinth where I waited and took another bus to the bus station and then waited some more before taking yet another bus to Nafplio.

First thing when you get out of the bus in Nafplio you see just how charming it is. High on the surrounding cliffs are walls and fortresses and castles that all overlook the town. The bus stops right in front of the tourist area which is delightfully charming! All pedestrian streets lined with shops and hotels and restaurants, cafes and in the centre is the square. A busy place full of energy and excitement. I strolled aimlessly through the streets taking in the scent of all the food and browsing in the tiny shops before I decided to venture over to see the fortresses. On my way I found a lovely beach with plenty of people still on it. At 5pm when it's nearly November, crazy. From there I found a path that I assumed would lead up to the "main" fortress, I was wrong. It actually turned out to be a half hour walk/hike on a gravel path that leads no where.. That I could see anyway. It was getting dark so I had to turn back. Another half hour later and I'm back in town. Having been so busy all day I didn't really consider what time it was and found myself looking for a hotel at 7pm. I didn't find one. I checked SEVEN hotels and they were all booked. At this point I'm so exhausted from the day and have seen so much already that I decided the best thing would be to jump on the last bus headed for Athens and come back another weekend. Which I will be doing.

Another bus, train, train, bus and walk later I am finally home in bed!

It was a really great day despite not turning out at all as I planned and I'm really looking forward to going back and to seeing the other towns near to it!

Good night!