Corinth, Epidarus, and Nauplion

As part of our History class, our Prof.  Robert takes us on a trip around the Peleponnese -- that's the western part of Greece that looks like an upside-down hand minus a finger.  So we left early on Thanksgiving morning and headed to Corinth. Apparently Robert thought Corinth was only worth 20 minutes, because that's all he scheduled for it.  We stopped at this sketchy little way side rest and looked at the canal and then got some ice cream treats and hopped back on the bus.

From there we went to Epidarus where there is this really well preserved sanctuary to the healing god Asklipius and a theater.  As a part of this god's cult, they used snakes to heal people of all these crazy ailments like being continuously pregnant for 7 years or, as Robert calls it, having a malignant tumor.  Apparently this eternally pregnant woman agave birth to a healthy 7 year old - fully developed and functional - after visiting.  The theater was really awesome.  If someone stood at the center, you could hear a coin drop all the way at the top.  It's true, we tried it.  We had a little impromptu concert of Disney songs and many renditions of Happy Birthday because it was Kyle's 21st on Thanksgiving.

After Epidarus, we went to Nauplion which happens to be the first capital of Greece.  It has this huge harbor and 2 acropoli!  We checked into our rooms, which always seem to be stacked on top of one another and I was leaning out the window eating a Clementine while Abby, a floor below, looked out too.  We decided it would be a great idea to see if I could drop a wedge of my Clementine down if she could catch it in her mouth.  My aim was pretty good, but not great and the wedge hit her right under her nose and made this horrible splat noise.  Who knew that a piece of fruit could reach such a high velocity in such a short period of time.

After the fruit fiasco, we went on a little walking tour of Nauplion.  At the end Robert pointed out the upper acropolis and said that there were stairs leading all the way up.  Ellen told me that this was one of her favorite parts of study abroad,so I rallied some troops and we started.  There were about 15 of us at the beginning, but our numbers quickly shrank to 6.  The entire way up was stairs, no flat patches, just stairs.  It was one heck of a calf workout!  Sam, the jack rabbit, RAN the entire way up.  He calls it ADHD, I call it impressive.  Julie and I played tortoise and took our time, and we all finally got to the top in time to see the sun set into some clouds.

On the way down my legs felt like complete jelly.  It was almost a little harder to go down than up just because I was scared of missing a step and falling all the way down.  We stopped for gelato on the way back to the hotel.  Nauplion is the only place in Greece that has legit gelato and it was delicious!

Back at the hotel, we changed quick for Thanksgiving dinner and then headed down.  We got a real Thanksgiving turkey that was actually stuffed with stuffing made out of rice, lentils, and beef.  We also at some cabbage salad, potatoes, and pudding stuff for dessert.  We demolished that turkey.  Ate every last bit, the boys made sure of that.  After dinner we went out for a little walk by the harbor and stopped at an outdoor cafe for some coffee and drinks.  I, as is my nature, started falling asleep in the chair, but by then a bunch of people were ready to go back, so we put on our pajamas and watched a whole 10 minutes of 300 before falling asleep.