Monday 2nd November

It was pretty chilly last night but we buried ourselves beneath layers of sleeping bags and had a good night’s sleep, although we were woken to the dulcet tones of Tatin throwing up this morning (he’d been out celebrating his birthday last night!). We took pity and supplied him with Paracetamol and a rehydration sachet when we got up, and he seemed to be recovering well when we left to check out the amazing amphitheatre at Epidavros (it seats 14,000 people and is still used for plays today).

The acoustics were great, although I’m not sure it needed a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by an American tourist to prove it. There are also the ruins of a sanctuary at Epidavros (sanctuary of Asclepius - god of medicine) which were undergoing restoration and reconstruction in places. This was really useful as it gave a good idea of how impressive the place must have looked in its heyday.

We then checked out more ruins at Tiryns, a Mycenaean acropolis, which had massive 7m thick walls in places and is therefore rumoured to have been built by the Cyclopes, although there wasn’t really much to this site on the whole (and no Cyclopes were about). SPOT

Having had enough of ruins for the day, we headed back to Nafplio to have a wander round the town which is lovely, although everything was shut (as things always tend to be in continental Europe, they really need to stop being so slack and open their shops occasionally). SPOT

Although we did find an open Italian ice cream parlour which served the best ice cream we’ve ever tasted and negated any need for dinner this evening.

We also found this in the car park in Nafplio, we obviously look better:

Posted by Anne.