Mykinos to Nafplio

You can probably tell from the mistakes in my last blog that I wrote it in a hurry from a quayside cafe just prior to sailing. The on board wifi was very expensive at €7per hour so along with most other passengers we adopted the practice of having a coffee down town and checking our email etc. The rush to write that blog meant I confused the name of the small island we really liked. It is Symi and at the time I was on Chios.which we also enjoyed exploring. We then set sail for Mykinos but the wind was blowing very strongly and shortly after we left Chios the Captain announced that it was too dangerous to berth at Mykinos. This didn't concern Bob and me because it was not high on our priority list. Instead we berthed at Syros which has a harbour in the lea of the island and a long breakwater as well. By the time we arrived it was getting dark. The town stretches up the hill behind the harbour and as the lights came on it looked beautiful. We went for a walk around the central town which has some very elegant buildings. We then went back to the ship for a casual dinner in the buffet restaurant.
We were early into Lavrio, one of the ports for Athens and were collecting our hire car from the airport. We decided that we could catch the local bus to the Airport to collect the car even though it had the extra complexity of changing buses half way. All went well and the young conductor was used to shuttling people off the bus and making sure that they got on the right connection. It did not stop there though. Further along and quite close to the airport we were off loaded and told to get on the Airport Minibus. I was so bemused that I almost left my case behind. Sharp words from Bob and a quick return saw it all safe. Low and behold when we pulled up at the Metro station within sight of the airport we were told to change again. Back on a big bus and the driver of the mini bus became conductor on the this bus until it was time to leave. Thank goodness  we had plenty of time so we could just sit back and watch it all unroll. This time we were delivered to the arrivals hall and successfully collected our car. They gave us a diesal Fiat Punto and the woman explained that it would be cheaper to run. We soon discovered the correctness of this when we found that diesal is anywhere between 30 and 40 cents per litre cheaper than ULP.
The drive to Nafplio went smoothly despite the fact that the GPS on Bob's tablet was issuing instructions in German. He couldn't fix it until we could connect with the internet that night. Our pension is right in the centre of the old town and took three requests for directions to find it but it is well worth it.
Yesterday we needed to stretch our wings after being confined by ships rules . We drove down the coast towards the south and it is really beautiful countryside. The road was very winding especially when we turned inland to head for the port town on the very south coast, Glytheio. The car is very zippy though and Bob enjoyed driving it almost as much as riding the bike. The mountain section was full of hairpin bends and quite slow going so we were out all day. The olive groves on the foothills are amazing . They stretch up hill and down dale comparable to our wheatbelt.
Today we have spent our time visiting historical sites. We started with the Palamidi fortress that is perched above Nafplio. Built in the 1700's and a truly formidable place. We then went to Mycene and linked our ancient history studies about Agamemnon and the battle for Troy with his Palace. From there to Corinith where the main influence remaining was Roman even though it had been settled earlier. Julius Caesar seems to have been about the last overlord there. By then my brain was soaked with too much info and it was time to head for home anyway.
Tomorrow we head north after thoroughly enjoying this area. More later. Gail