Happy Birthday, Dorable!

They say it's your      birthday

You're gonna have a good time

We're glad it's your birthday

Happy birthday to you

Tasos Taverna

We had a lovely dinner here this evening. This taverna is in a small restaurant area along the waterfront on the backside of the village.

Cascading Color

Remember those two little fuschia colored flowers? Here's how you see them all over the village.

What a perfect way to advertise your local garden center.

Another view of Ermioni

In this shot you can clearly see the pine forest. Our house is the third rooftop from the right.

Super Market Goose

No, he's not for sale--he's their pet. Nobody seems to pay any attention to him and I got a few strange looks taking this shot.

Two Ladies

These two women were very kind to oblige the new lens in town. Old and young alike don't seem to mind my intrusions.

A study in contrast

Meet me at the market

A splotch of color

These little flowers are everywhere, cascading over gates, doorways and fences.

Yellow Market

We stumbled upon this market and a few other shops in a small retail area...right in the midst of the hillside village.

You'll notice that it is closed.  Most of the shops in Greece close between 2:00 and 5:30pm every day.

Little Girl in Blue

This little girl heard us outside and flung open the shutters to see what we were doing.  No matter where you are, little kids love to have their picture taken.

Scooter with Goose Planter

The colors and textures we found around every corner of the village were amazing and wonderful.

More Ermioni

High on a hillside, overlooking the harbor is the Ermioni Windmill.  It has been turned into a bar and restaurant.

And unless you are dangling from a helicopter out over the harbor, you cannot see the whole thing.  So...I just made sure I couldn't see the liquor bottles through the window just below that roof line and...voila! ~ Sandy

Now it's time to say goodnight.

Good night...good night...

Our favorite place...Ermioni

How could you not love it here?

Next stop, Epidavros

Seating 13,000 - 14,000 people, this theatre  from 300 BC is still in use today with festivals and concerts throughout the summer.  The small dot in the center is a woman singing a song and Dennis could hear her all the way at the top. One of the small dots on the bottom left is me.  This is truly an amazing place.  The theatre is only a small part of the excavation being done by the archeologists.

Fixing a Hole...

While wandering through the castle ruins, we found an ancient skylight.

The Castle

On top of one of the mountains, there are the remnants of an ancient castle.

Nafplio - the Bourtzi fortress

Turn around, and in the middle of the harbor is an island fortress. It is said that this fortress was used to house the executioners because they didn't feel it was smart to house them on the mainland.

Note, even in Greece there is graffiti. This bit of artwork is on the base of the light at the end of the pier.

Today's road trip took us to Nafplio, another port town

This is a square you can see from the harbor.  As in Hydra, there are shops and tavernas down every street.

In the background,on the mountain is a huge, ancient fortress.

Good morning, good morning...

Didima Caves

 
About 30 minutes northwest of Ermioni is an ancient site called The Caves of Didyma, from roughly 395 to 610 AD, and apparently, it is still used today as evidenced by the furnishings in and outside the structures.

This is the stairway entrance to the crater where you will find two Byzantine churches situated under stone overhangs.

Dorable - This one's for you

Ermioni Harbor

This is a small part of the Ermioni harbor. Many people come to town by boat and there are many fishing boats as well.  You can see their huge nets piled up on the piers. That is a section of the village in the background.

Colors and textures

You never know what you're going to find as you turn that next corner. And yes...someone does live here!

This one's for sale.

Interested?

Still wandering

In the maze of houses, alleyways, parked cars and motorbikes, I stumbled across this church.  Just as I was about to take this shot, the bell began to clang, scaring me half to death.  Right there in the middle of everything.  Who knew? Must be a pretty small congregation. The parking lot is only big enough for about 4 cars.

More village wanderings

It looks like you're coming to a dead end, but no...there is a hard right turn on this two-way street. No signs, no room, no nothin'...

Another Adventure

So...we got a flat tire on the rental car (a whole story all by itself).  Walked to the service station down the very narrow winding roads of the village. You must understand that the streets are not laid out in any discernible pattern.  I ended up on the other side of town, but many photo ops presented themselves.  Went a little crazy.
Dennis

The Tree House

It's called the Tree House because it's at the very top of Ermioni, overlooking the harbor.

The two archways on the right denote our balcony. This building has four apartments. When he's here, the owner lives directly above us.

The Pine Forest

Ermioni is on a small peninsula off the East coast of the Peloponnese peninsula which is southern Greece (southwest of Athens.)

The Pine Forest juts out into the sea at the tip of Ermioni. This path takes you all the way around with beautiful vistas at every turn.

Dennis

The Hydra Transportation System

The donkeys provide transportation for people and their luggage. The little burros go right up the cobblestone stairways and streets without incident.

Cafe in Hydra

We ate lunch in this tiny cafe on one of the side streets. We tried our very first octopus and it was delicious!  Grilled and served in olive oil.  Yum.  We shared spanakopita (spinach pie) as well, also delectable!  And don't forget the Coke Light. We found this place by wandering through the tiny, winding streets between buildings. It's easy to get lost, but what a wonderful way to explore the village.

Hydra Harbor

Hydra Harbor as you get off the boat.

Hydrofoil to Hydra

Today we rode this hydrofoil, the Flying Dolphin II, to the island of Hydra.  There are only three methods of transportation on the island - bicycle (not very easy on the steep cobblestone streets and alleyways), one truck that is used for delivering supplies to the businesses and many, many donkeys.  More photos to follow.  Have to choose from the 300 snapshots Dennis took today. I am not making this up. :)
Sandy

Farmer's Market and Bazaar

This gentleman gave us two oranges after Dennis took his picture.  Delicious!  So we went back and bought a whole bag full--Ena evro.  That's 1 euro in Greek.  We're learning fast.

Sunrise over Ermioni

Sunrise from the balcony.  Need I say more?

On the road to Ermioni

Through the mountains of the Peloponnese on the way to our village of Ermioni.  Twisty, torturous roads with great road signs.  One said "Dangerous bents".  I am not making this up.  And, yes, they were dangerous.  But these kinds of beautiful vistas were everywhere. About a 3 hour drive from Athens, looking back on the Aegean Sea.

The Plaka

The Plaka...and yes, cars and motor bikes both drive down this kind of street...in both directions. Don't think for a minute that they wouldn't run you right over.

Taverna on the Plaka

We ate breakfast one morning at this taverna.  It is located on The Plaka, which is a market area with many shops, cafes and galleries along very narrow winding cobblestone and marble streets.  The taxi drivers and motor bikes still manage to weave in and out around each other and all the shoppers.  Quite bizarre in the bazaar.

Athens Parliament Changing of the Guard with Pigeon

This is really the guards changing positions at their stations.  They do a very formal stepping and stomping motion.  Even later in the day, when the daily strike demonstration happens (which quite literally shuts down the center of the city), they are at their posts with riot squad police on the steps behind them. A little unnerving to see police in the streets with assault rifles and bullet proof shields, but there is music and flag waving going on at the same time.  Quite the scene.  We did not hang around long.

Acropolis - The Amphitheatre

On the way up to the Acropolis, there is an amphitheatre which is still in use. It's hard to see, but there are stage lights installed in the arches and on the sides of the stage.

Acropolis, Part Deux - The workshop

All of these pieces of stone are numbered and categorized so they may be put back together and fit exactly.  Isn't it amazing how the modern world needs dynamite, cranes and a host of big machinery to accomplish this, while the ancient Greeks just made it happen. In fact, the design is so finely detailed that the fluted columns are ever so slightly tapered at the top and the four corner pillars are slightly wider than the rest.  There is also a wonderful museum, just completed about a year ago, where they have many of the sculptures and artifacts found at the site.

Visiting The Acropolis

It is nearly impossible to capture the magnitude of this architecture, some of which is hundreds of years before Christ.  It takes your breath away. We have many shots, but can't put all of them here, so here is a teaser. We walked up a long path and many stairs to get there.

Exis Hotel in Athens

This is our hotel in Athens. Beautiful old hotel. Not a great neighborhood, but we managed. Even negotiated our way in and out of the middle of town on the trolley and the Metro without incident!
Well...we did have to ask the very nice policemen who spoke mostly English which of the 7 streets that come into the square was the one we needed to be on to catch the right trolley back to our hotel. :)
We walked around in circles for about an hour trying to figure it out on our own....AND, we were convinced that we knew the right way. It was not correct. We were 180 degrees off from our best guess. Thank you, Mr. Policeman, who had to call the hotel to make sure we were registered there, because we didn't know the address. HAH! Stupid American tourists.