When in Greece, you have to go to the water and we did. Our last full weekend, we decided to rent a car and head to Nafplio, the first capital of Greece and a very cute old city in the Peloponnese region on the Argolic Gulf. It’s about a two-hour drive from Athens and has a fortress (of course) high on a hill, another fortress and a castle plus beaches and quaint cobblestone streets in the old town.

The route to Nafplio goes past the archeological site of Mycenae, the sprawling ruins of one of the two greatest cities of the Mycenaean civilization which flourished during the late Bronze Age era (circa 1600-1100 BCE), the other one is Tiryns. Mycenae was the kingdom of Agamemnon of Trojan War fame. If you were forced (or chose to) read the Iliad in high school, you know all about him. Based on his tomb, he was revered in his time and after. The site contains the remains of the entire city including a palace, royal burial sites, and the famous Lions Gate, or the main entrance to the citadel. When we returned to the car, we noticed that the driver’s side door was scratched. Fabulous (see below for resolution).

We spent more time wandering (and climbing) the site than we thought we would, so that left us without time to climb the 855-999 steps (the number varies depending on where you look) to the fortress at Nafplio. Oh well. What a shame! Instead, we stopped for a quick lunch (souvlaki and a Greek salad, what else?) and then checked into the lovely Isioni Pension. If you ever decide to drive to Nafplio, be aware that the streets are narrow and there are many service vehicles that don’t care that you’re trying to relax since they live there and are trying to earn a living. Once we were settled in, we walked down to the harbor and took the 10-miute ferry to the Bourtzi Fortress, which is relatively new, having been built in 1473. We were a little disappointed in it since there isn’t much there except a view back toward Nafplio. The fortress started its life as a prison, and served may purposed until being converted into and used as a luxury hotel for the 1960s. Finally, it was restored and is now a tourist attraction, albeit not our favorite.

We wandered the cute streets for a bit, and then sat in a wine bar followed by dinner at Kastro Karima (sorry, it only has an FB page), where we enjoyed a typically warm welcome and delicious Greek food.

Of course, we wouldn’t want any grass to grow under our feet, so instead of hanging out in Nafplio on Sunday, we had signed up for a kayaking and snorkeling trip on the other side of the Argolid Peninsula in Palaia Epidavros or Archaia Epidauros. That meant getting up by 8 a.m. Ugh, but we do these things to ourselves. Our pension reservation came with breakfast. Imagine all the options at a breakfast buffet, but just for you. That is what we were served. I felt terrible about how much food we left, but breakfast isn’t our thing to begin with and there was no way we could have eaten the two different pastries, figs and peaches, Greek yogurt, omelet, sliced cheese and meats, not to mention the freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee. Wow! After eating as much as we could, we headed back to the car for the 40-minute drive.

I give props to Steven because while most of the drive was on pretty standard roads, when we got close, I recall him saying, “We turn here?” Yes, we do! Then we were driving on a narrow street that looked like it headed straight into the water, but it turned and took us to a cute little beach resort and to our guide for the morning.

I love snorkeling and this was particularly cool because we kayaked to different parts of the cove, where we stopped to snorkel, the first time to see little fish and take a short walk from the beach along streets lined with fig, banana and olive trees to see the Little Theater of Epidavros. There’s also a giant amphitheater about a 20-minute drive inland from there, but although we try, we really can’t do everything.

Snorkeling above the ruins of the sunken city of Ancient Epidavros really was a highlight of our time in Greece (except for the food. Have I mentioned the food?). The water is exceptionally clear and beautifully blue and the ruins of the city are only about 10 feet under water and within easy reach of the shore. You can easily see the remains of the trading center and just float around looking without any hindrance. Earthquakes submerged the town and part of the beaches nearby so now there is a clear color delineation in the water from deep blue to a more aquamarine. It’s stunning.

We used the tour company Tribal Kayak and were treated to stuffed tomatoes and peppers for lunch courtesy of the owner’s mom. Yum! After lunch, we kayaked back to our starting point, hopped into the car and headed back to Athens on a different route since we were now in the eastern part of the peninsula. This route took us over the mountains. Poor Steven. We never seem to go anywhere where he isn’t pushing past his fear of heights while driving. The views were fabulous, according to me.

The car scratch resolution: We dutifully waited for the car rental staff to check out the damage only to find that the original video they took when we left showed that the damage had already been there. Ha! We also took a video, but never noticed it.

During the week, we went to the National Archeology Museum a short walk from our apartment. It’s hard to fathom the amazing wealth of statues, pottery and other ancient finds found throughout Greece and even within the confines of Athens.

Steven also really wanted to witness the changing of the guard, performed by the Evones, or Greek Presidential Guard, a ceremonial unit of the Greek military who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the presidential mansion. I’ll just say that it was quite the spectacle. Have you heard of Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks? I’m not saying anything, but you can connect the dots.

Hydra

Heading up to our last full day in Greece, I could tell that Steven just wasn’t going to be satisfied unless we hit an island. After mulling for too long, I decided Hydra was it. Why? Because it’s still close enough for the day, but not so close that it’s practically visible from the port, plus there are no cars allowed. All transport is by donkey, or what seemed more common, human-drawn carts like the ones used in Venice.

We decided we didn’t want to try for a 9:30 a.m. ferry and instead opted for the civilized 12:15 p.m. As we were heading out, we got a notification that the ferry was delayed 45 minutes because of weather. Uh oh. That meant wind. I was a little trepidatious, but I had my dramamine and I didn’t want to back out even though Steven said he wouldn’t mind. We finally left at about 2 p.m. and were told that the captain had chosen a longer, but calmer, route. This meant hugging close to the shores of other islands. It was a bit bumpy, but not too bad, and we arrived on Hydra at about 3:30 (which by the way is right on time for Greek ferries. All the locals laugh at tourists who seem to expect ferries to leave when the schedules say they should).

I finally understand why people want to go to the Greek islands! So cute and relaxing. We wandered around the streets for a bit shooting photos because everyone who had just gotten off the ferry was hungry and we didn’t feel like dealing with crowds and then headed back to a little spot we had noticed on the way in. I had falafel with eggplant that was tasty, but oddly, wrapped in a tortilla. I’m sure Steven had chicken souvlaki, because, what else?

After lunch we strolled (uphill [BOTH WAYS!!!!]) along the water and shopped for fridge magnets. We are not good shoppers. We don’t really buy much of anything besides fridge magnets and food, but if you like shopping, there are some nice looking stores that didn’t see completely full of tourist shlock.

We had figured that the 7 p.m. ferry, the last of the day, would also be late, but we really didn’t know how late, so we hung out at the harbor, watching the sunset and the people. The ferry arrived around 7:30 p.m. and boy do I wish it hadn’t. There’s a reason I don’t like boats and the reason is that they don’t like me (it isn’t really the boats…it is the water). I wasn’t the only one hurling my guts up, but that didn’t make that trip (which seemed to last about 40 days) any easier for me. It was ROUGH. The staff was great, trying to comfort everyone, pass out barf bags and tell us the horror would “only” last about 20 minutes (or the full two hour trip if you are me). I’ll be taking a boat/ferry/ship hiatus for a while now. I’ll let you know when I’m no longer get sick looking at an moving water.

Up until that point, it was a pretty great day, so there’s that.

Sunday, we had coffee and pastries in a cafe. Not surprisingly I was a bit hungry, since my stomach was totally empty. Then we started our end-of-the-stay ritual of emptying the fridge, organizing the toiletries, figuring out what to pack in which suitcase. Because our flight wasn’t until 11 p.m., we were able to manage one last meal. We went to Bakalogatos, the second restaurant recommended by Matt Barrett that we went to. He has the same food sensibility we do: good food, friendly atmosphere, not froufrou. We decided that feta wrapped in filo dough with honey is the touchstone dish of Greek restaurants. If they don’t do this well, hmmm. Bakalogatos did it well! Don’t know if we mentioned Cafe Boheme, but that was another of his recommendations.

Finally, we headed back, finished packing and said goodbye to Athens after a great stay.