For my parents' second day here, we decided to take a one-day tour of the Peloponnese with Mike, who was part of a private taxi company and who had picked my parents up from the airport.
Though I had spent a week in the Peloponnese, I hadn't truly experienced it until I saw it Mike's way. We saw the Isthmian canal (this time I could get a picture since it wasn't pouring)
Ancient Corinth and the Temple of Apollo (which was deserted--we were the only people wandering through the site)
...but more importantly, we saw Greek life. On our way out of Corinth, Mike turned into a gravel lot where there was a barn-like structure and told us that it was the first pressing of olives of the season and that we must come and see. So we went into the small factory and learned how olive oil was made. And took pictures, at Mike's insistance. I call all of these photos "Mike Made Me..."
A little farther on, Mike pulled over to the side of the road, got out, had us cross the road, the railroad tracks, and scramble up a ditch to watch olives being harvested by some workers. He explained how they spread out netting beneath the trees, and then took large combs and dragged them along the branches, scraping off the olives.
...and then had us get some hands-on experience
At another point he pulled into a bakery at the side of the road, where he bought us spanakopita and "the best bougatsa [cream pie] in Greece". Indeed, it was like heaven in a pastry...creamy sweet custard with a light sprinkling of cinnamon, wrapped in delightful layers of pastry dough. Then he took us into the bakery kitchen, where a young woman was pulling bread out of the oven...
And had me get some hands-on experience...
For lunch, he marched us to "the best restaurant in Nafplion" and ordered for us--fantastic fresh fried calamari with "skordalia" (a garlic dipping sauce), shrimp "saganaki" in a rich tomato sauce with chunks of a mild cheese, and fresh boiled dandelion greens and broccoli with lemon.
On the drive between sites, he alternated between telling us various tidbits of Athenian and Greek life, and playing for us History Channel shorts about the places we were seeing.
It was also quite an adventure getting back to Athens; one of the reasons we chose to leave Athens for the day was on account of the protests (commemorating the November 17th, 1973 protests against the military "Junta" regime in Athens, during which many student protestors were killed) that not only CYA but also the US Embassy had warned me of. The center of Athens was for the most part closed, but thanks to Mike's incredible navigational skills and intimate knowledge of Athens side streets, he got us within walking distance of the hotel...but Mike never settles for second-best, so he told the guard that my dad had asthma and was able to drive along the pedestrian street, onto some other side roads, and pulled up right to the front of the hotel.
All in all, a most memorable day with Mike.
Though I had spent a week in the Peloponnese, I hadn't truly experienced it until I saw it Mike's way. We saw the Isthmian canal (this time I could get a picture since it wasn't pouring)
Ancient Corinth and the Temple of Apollo (which was deserted--we were the only people wandering through the site)
Myceneae
and Nafplion...
...but more importantly, we saw Greek life. On our way out of Corinth, Mike turned into a gravel lot where there was a barn-like structure and told us that it was the first pressing of olives of the season and that we must come and see. So we went into the small factory and learned how olive oil was made. And took pictures, at Mike's insistance. I call all of these photos "Mike Made Me..."
A little farther on, Mike pulled over to the side of the road, got out, had us cross the road, the railroad tracks, and scramble up a ditch to watch olives being harvested by some workers. He explained how they spread out netting beneath the trees, and then took large combs and dragged them along the branches, scraping off the olives.
...and then had us get some hands-on experience
At another point he pulled into a bakery at the side of the road, where he bought us spanakopita and "the best bougatsa [cream pie] in Greece". Indeed, it was like heaven in a pastry...creamy sweet custard with a light sprinkling of cinnamon, wrapped in delightful layers of pastry dough. Then he took us into the bakery kitchen, where a young woman was pulling bread out of the oven...
And had me get some hands-on experience...
For lunch, he marched us to "the best restaurant in Nafplion" and ordered for us--fantastic fresh fried calamari with "skordalia" (a garlic dipping sauce), shrimp "saganaki" in a rich tomato sauce with chunks of a mild cheese, and fresh boiled dandelion greens and broccoli with lemon.
On the drive between sites, he alternated between telling us various tidbits of Athenian and Greek life, and playing for us History Channel shorts about the places we were seeing.
It was also quite an adventure getting back to Athens; one of the reasons we chose to leave Athens for the day was on account of the protests (commemorating the November 17th, 1973 protests against the military "Junta" regime in Athens, during which many student protestors were killed) that not only CYA but also the US Embassy had warned me of. The center of Athens was for the most part closed, but thanks to Mike's incredible navigational skills and intimate knowledge of Athens side streets, he got us within walking distance of the hotel...but Mike never settles for second-best, so he told the guard that my dad had asthma and was able to drive along the pedestrian street, onto some other side roads, and pulled up right to the front of the hotel.
All in all, a most memorable day with Mike.
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