Corinth and Nafplion

Yasis!
I have had a great weekend so far! We started off Friday on a day trip to Corinth that was really interesting. Unfortunately we couldn't swim because there is something in the water that gets you sick. Our professors know the Director of the site there so we got a behind the scenes tour of the site! It was so cool seeing real excavators in action! We got to walk along the paths they were using and they showed us what they were working on.

After our tour we went around the ruins to explore. They still have bathhouses there, which are actually quite gross, they weren't very germ-conscious back then. My favorite part was the Behma, where Paul stood and was persecuted for his teachings. It's also said that is where he recited his letters 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. It was so cool actually walking where he walked!

I think I loved this bus ride the best because we got far away from Athens and got to see rural Greece. The houses are beautiful and look more Italian to me than anything. They are spaced out relatively far and all have beautiful plants, probably because they can't actually grow anything. There are a lot of venders selling fresh fruit and vegetables and old men sitting out drinking their frappes and smoking cigarettes. I really think I see more men around here than women which doesn't really make sense. Maybe the women are working or staying home but everytime we go out for dinner or something there will be probably 10 old men playing with their worry beads, smoking, and drinking frappes. They also stare haha.

Sarah, Chancey, Sam, Bette, myself, and five people from the other class were dropped off at the bus station so we could go to Nafplion. Our bus pulled up just as the one to Nafplion was pulling out so we had to wait an hour and 45 minutes until the next one. So we just got a bottle of wine and played cards while the entire bus station stared at us.

The hotel we stayed in we got from our Professor, Nicola. She couldn't use it Friday night so she let us use her reservation and then she came in for Saturday night. It was very beautiful although I'm pretty sure I woke up with a tick in my bed. I freaked out and had everyone check me for ticks haha.

After we checked in and got cleaned up we went walking along the beach where I took this beautiful picture! As we were looking for a place to eat a restaurant owner stopped us and offered free drinks and dessert if we ate there! So of course we did. I got rigatone with cream sauce and ham and we all split saganaki, it was delicious. Unfortunately the dessert was flan and I can't deal with that texture haha. During dinner the workers brought out this huge plasma tv and proped it up on the table, turns out Greece was playing in the World Cup Playoffs. So many people came to watch the game and they were so loud! Needless to say, we were there almost three hours because they could not be bothered to bring our food or check.

We decided to go to this famous gellato placed owned by and Italian brother and sister, it's in all the guidebooks and our professor even mentioned it. It was delicious! They let you sample all of these flavors and the owners are very loud Italians. I ended up getting tiramisu...then white chocolate mixed with berry for lunch...then nutella and ferrero rocher after dinner. Yes we had gellato three times within 18 hours and by the third time we were the owners favorites. It was 95 degrees and thats the only thing we could stand to eat!

The next morning we decided to climb 1,000 steps to the top of the Palamidi Fortress that looks over the whole town and the ocean. It was already 90 degrees when we started so we were pretty tired but the view was beautiful! They charge you 4 euros to get the best view which I think is just ridiculous. I just climbed 1000 steps and now you want me to pay! Oh, no. What we could see was just as beautiful though. I still can't get over the blueness and clarity of the water here.

Then we went to the beach! It was a pebble beach, which I prefer because there's no sand so it's not all over you! It is still hot and sort of hurts your feet at first but it's worth it to me. We met some Greek boys there who were trying desperately to show off for us. They thought splashing us was hilarious and thought it was cool to play American music. They didn't speak much English so it was interesting.

We did some shopping around and exploring and then boarded our bus. We got back to Athens around 8:00 and then jumped in the shower and got ready to go out! We went over to the Michigan girls appartment and then this awesome club with flowers on the ceilings and paid dancers on the tables, very European.

Today it's supposed to be 92 so we'll see how our day goes.

New pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=175668&id=590541644&l=1ed4e409bc