Going Greek

Do not Bogart my warm pocket!

So first things first....I have clean laundry! I have never been so excited about doing laundry in my life even if it did cost 9 euros! Today is a good day.

Second thing, last night after I posted my blog we went to a restaurant in the old part of Nafplio. The food was good as usual, but we got a little surprise at dinner....traditional Greek dancers! They came to perform especially for us after we ate. They were a husband and wife couple, and they were really good! We just thought we were going to watch...of course not. As soon as they were done with their song, the lady sprang right over and grabbed me to dance with her. I hate dancing, and I had definitely not had enough alcohol to be partaking in any of that, but in the end she forced me to join her. About half of us got chosen to learn the first dance. It was pretty easy to pick up, and I actually enjoyed it. We took turns switching dancing and watching and learned a couple of the dances. We had other tourists coming in to watch us all dance; we were definitely the entertainment of the night! After the sweat we all worked up I didn't quite feel so bad having that second gelato last night.

We started out our day heading to the Palamidi Castle. Let's just say that was definitely the most strenuous part of our day. 900+ steps to get to the top of the hill that the castle sat on. 900 steps. 900! That's 899 more than I am usually willing to do per day. Steph, Kelsi, Lauren, Barnes, Gabe, Nick, Becky, and I were the only ones who decided to climb it; the others just took the bus up to the top. They were taking bets on how many times I would fall apparently, but I am proud to say I only tripped once! Granted it was only on the third step, but still. In the end I am really glad I did it just to say that I did and we got a pretty cool view on the way up. Plus, those weren't the only stairs today. The whole castle was filled with stairs and later at the theater in Epidaurus we were climbing. I would say probably over 1,100 stairs in total. My legs are going to kill me tomorrow! But, I took this opportunity to eat anything and everything in sight (really, when do I not?), so all in all it was a win-win. Anyways, this was the first castle that I have ever seen in person...it felt so much like home haha. It was built back in the 1700s, so it has a very medieval look and feel to it. I fell in love with it instantly. Apparently it took 15 years to build it, but it was only in use for ONE WEEK before it was taken over by the Turks. 15 years for one week of use. Holy hell that would have felt like such a waste of time for the Venetians who built it (especially if you had to climb up and down the hill I had to climb today, sheesh). In more recent times, the castle was used by the Greeks for various purposes, one of those being a prison for enemy leaders. We got to see the cell where a rather famous prisoner by the name of Kolokotrone was held. This cell was about the size of my closet, maybe a little smaller. To get to it you had to crawl in a probably 2 ft. by 2 ft. hole that led you to another hole of the same size that then led you to the cell. Since it was deep into the castle there would have been no light or fresh air (maybe a little from a small hole in the rock way above your head) and the ground floor was literally just gigantic, not to mention pointy, boulders sticking out of the ground so there was practically no way you could sit in there comfortably. Kolokotrone was kept in that room for 2 years! I don't know how someone could stay in that cell for that long and not go crazy! I am not claustrophobic by any means, but under those conditions I probably would have rather died. The rest of the castle was massive and we got to explore around. So amazing! Thankfully we got to take the bus back down to the bottom, I didn't want to test my luck a second time around. After Palamidi Castle we set out for Epidaurus to see the Asclepeion. Asclepius was the healing god in Greek mythology, so this was a place that people came to be cured or some physical or mental ailment. Think of it today as sort of a healing spa. There were temples, dormitories, and healing centers all contained in this area to help purify the Grecians. Also on site was a track that was used for races back in ancient times. It would normally be just one foot race from one end to the other and spectators would watch from the sides. There would be only one winner who would be honored with a decorative wreath with local fruits and vegetables adorned on it. It was a very high honor to win events like these that were held all throughout Greece and was part of how the original Olympics would eventually come about. But, the coolest part of Epidaurus was the ampitheater on the grounds. This thing was HUGE! It probably sat maybe 14,000 to 15,000 people (hence the massive amount of stairs we had to climb here too) and had a giant round stage for its actors. It was in extremely good condition and is even used for plays today. The coolest thing about this theater though is that it is sooo ahead of its time. It is an outdoor theater and because of its size, normally it would be extremely hard to hear the performance if you were sitting very far away from the stage, but this theater was made acoustically sound. In other words, it was built so that no matter where you are in the stands, you can hear the actors speaking no matter how quiet there voice is. Obviously they didn't have microphones back then so this was a huge accomplishment! Of course being the loud Americans that we are, we had to try this out. We had Katy read some from the center, and sure enough we could hear her at the top. This led to my favorite picture of the day of her celebrating; bahahaha it was great. Barnes and Jackie performed the first few line of the Iliad as well. After Epidaurus we headed to the lunch and the beach. All I will say about lunch is that I tried whole fried sardines and I actually liked them! Faces on food normally freak me out but I was all for it and would definitely eat it again. I would have to say that this has been my favorite beach so far. The water wasn't too cold, although you did hit some cold and extremely warm pockets. It had a nice sandy beach, and overall it was just a very relaxing day of laying out and swimming. I love "studying" abroad. After the beach we headed back to Nafplio to get ready for dinner and gelato (yes, again!!). Amazing as usual!