I woke up at 11AM and went down to get breakfast. Nafplia has a two cool medieval fortresses in it, so I went to the one that wasn’t on the top of a mountain. It was awesome exploring it.
The place is situated above the city and overlooks the Mediterranean. I explored for a while and found an abandoned house on the Mediterranean side surrounded by cacti.
I walked up to the house, where the front door had broken off, and as I was entering it I slipped on a dead cactus and got this brown and orange cactus goo all over the side of my only pair of jeans. I found some scrap metal next to this little house and tried scraping the goo off. I got enough off and went on my way. That day I was planning on finding Mycenae, mostly for pride’s sake since I didn't the night before, and then end in Olympia. I got in the car and left Nafplia behind. Ultimately I did find Mycenae 40 minutes before closing. The town you have to pass through to get there is quite kitchy, with establishments such as “King Menelaus hotel,” and “Agamemnon Camping.” But the archaeological site was especially awesome for me because I studied it a few times in school. I saw the Treasury of Atrius first and then went up to the ancient city, the most famous feature of it being the Lion's Gate. When I got there I called the one person who I knew would appreciate it (shoutout Jenny Kronick).
It was really awesome to be there and I was happy I wasn’t going back to Athens. Mycenae is really cool and I wish I had more time there, but oh well.
After that I drove to Tripoli and from Tripoli to Olympia. The drive was incredible on the Kornithos-Tripoli national road. The ride got even more incredible between Tripoli and Olympia, driving through the mountains covered with large forests and valleys. I began teaching myself to read Greek based on the street signs. By the time the road trip ended I actually got good at reading the language, since many of the words are very similar to English and I already knew the alphabet (I learned once that Greek accounts for 6% of the English language). I stopped for lunch in a town built on the side of the mountain that was too unique looking to pass, and had a traditional Mediterranean meal the guy called “yemista” (grilled tomato and pepper stuffed with rice).
I made it to Olympia and saw the outside of the grounds for the International Olympic Committee. I booked a room in Hotel Kronio, where the manager reminded me of John C. Reilly from Step Brothers.
That night was Easter, so at midnight I went to my first ever Greek Orthodox Easter ceremony. An hour before midnight the church bells tolled, followed by an hour of incantations from the clergy over the loudspeakers. My room was next to the church so I heard all of it. I put on the nicest clothes in my backpack and went to the square. Everyone from the town was there and they all had candles.
The preist and his assistant came out of the church followed by a procession of people with lit candles. They passed the flames around until everyone had a lit candle.
The singing went on, and behind the crowd fireworks were set off. It was all really beautiful and I stood in the middle of the crowd watching it. When the service was over, the people walked home with their lit candles. I learned later from the hotel manager that the fire came from the Church of the holy Sepulcher, and I told him I had just been there. I then watched this entertaining and nostalgic video and went to sleep. That concludes day two.
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