Olympia's treasures

Hello everybody,
Today is our first and only full day in Olympia. We have been to the stadium of the ancient Olympics and guess who ran 192 meters today?:) We also saw the ruins of the ancient facility, such as the temple of Zeus, the temple of Hera and the training centre for athletes. I have now discovered a type of wrestling where the only rules were no biting and no eye gouging. Ouch! We have been commuting by a taxi man named Nassos who is very nice. In fact we are using him so much that he is like our personal driver! I will miss Olympia as we are headed to Nafplio tomorrow.
Bye for now!
Isaac

Ahhh . . . Greece!

After a fantastic final day in Salerno (actually in Amalfi), we began our journey to Greece at 9:30 am Thursday. Two trains, 2 buses, 2 taxis and an overnight ferry brought us to The Bacchus Tavern, a small, family-run hotel just outside Ancient Olympia. I feel very comfortable in Greece after spending two years working with the Andrinopoulos family at Katerina's Restaurant in Nanaimo. The language, the food, the music feel like home to me. We are in the town of Miraka, our Tavern overlooks a lush, green valley and boasts a terrace restaurant and outdoor pool. What a welcome oasis after almost 2 days of travel. We have hired one of the locals, Nasos, as our driver. He took us to and from the Ancient Olympic Sanctuary this morning and in between taxied us to a restaurant for some lunch. And what a lunch! Tzaziki and pita, feta saganaki, fried eggplant, and stuffed red pepper.  All for 23 Euros . . . including drinks. Tomorrow we make our way to Nafplio, a seaside city that is a vacation spot for Athenians. Oreos Elatha! Beautiful Greece!
Susan

Lighthouse in the entrance to the harbour at Brindisi

Aboard ship

Amalfi: amore!

Susan has been fighting a sinus infection, so our stay in Salerno has been recuperative as well as relaxing. I could tell she was feeling better today; she was gushing over the beauty of the mountains and sea at Amalfi. With the guidance of the owner of our hotel and his desk manager, we took ship to the town of Amalfi, capital of one of the 4 maritime republics of renaissance Italy, the others being Veneto, Pisa and Genoa (where Marco Polo dictated the memoir of his adventures while in prison). The symbols of these 4 nations compose the jack of the Modern Italian navy. But I digress. On landing, the 3 of us pushed through the tourist crowds on a quest to find the Valle de Ferriere, where we had been assured by our host we would find a wonderful waterfall and the forests of paradise. After working our way through the town and past terraces of lemon groves, we spent an hour following the course of a fine mountain river, all the while climbing further and further into the gorge. We learned later that we were on a trail which runs the length of the peninsula, an enticement to return here sometime in the future to hike again. Instead of doubling back to our starting point, we trekked in to Pontone, a small hill town nestled above Amalfi, where we refreshed ourselves with lunch in the square, complete with prosseco. Replete, we descended the 900 steps of a shortcut, back to Amalfi and the cathedral of Sanna Andrea, a 9th Century basilica covered in mosaics and gold leaf and redolent with the aroma of incense. All in all, a very good day.

Three countries in 3 weeks

It's hard to believe that we've been travelling for three weeks now.  It feels like we've been away from home for a very long time.  Maybe it's because we've packed a lot into those 3 weeks. Today we took the train to Pompeii to visit the ruins of the ancient city. It was amazing to walk around the old city and realize that people then lived much the same as we do now. They had their bakeries and refreshment bars, their vineyards and farms. They even had spas (Roman baths) and brothels. So incredible to try to imagine how life for the people of Pompeii was cut short so suddenly on that warm spring day in 79 AD. The ash and other pyroclastic flows preserved the city so well that you really got a sense of what life was like for the people of Pompeii. We had a pasta lunch in the modern city of Pompeii before catching an afternoon train back to Salerno.
We're so glad we decided to stay in Salerno for these four days; it really is an Italian city. A welcome change after the chaos of Rome! English is hard to come by here so we try our best to use Italian and lots of hand gestures to make ourselves understood. Dinner is a late night affair as in the other cities we've visited. Restaurants don't start to get busy until after 9:00 pm. The thing I enjoy most, though, is the evening stroll (passeggiare) that starts about 6 pm and continues on until late in the evening. At some point, most families get out together to walk along the boulevards or along the waterfront. The Main Street in town is pedestrian only so it is a perfect place to stroll. One can stop to visit with friends or taste a gelato along the way; it's a lovely ritual to take part in.
Susan

Sunday in Salerno

Bonjour!
Aujourd'ui nous sommes en Salerno. C'est le premier journée ici est nous adorons! On a pris un train pour 3 heurs de Rome à ici. Ma mère est malade alors on fait pas beaucoup de choses aujourd'hui. Canada vraiment me manque et aussi le soccer et mes amis tu me manque!!!!!