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Kalamata: More Connections
We leave Nafpaktos and cross the Charilaos Trikoupis bridge from mainland Greece to the Peloponnese region, which is an engineering marvel. It opened one day before the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics, on 12 August 2004, and was used to transport the Olympic flame. I took a video while driving across, you can see it on Facebook. Hopefully I’ll be able to add video to this website in the near future.
Our next stop is Ancient Olympia, where we visit the museum and then visit the ancient city ruins. We learn about some of the ancient Olympic events, such as bull-leaping, where competitors would somersault over running bulls. Maybe the current Olympic committee could bring this back in place of plain old trampoline. Also of note is the original javelin competitions were for distance and also for accuracy – from horseback!
Anyway, I don’t know how this happened, but we arrived on the ancient site when no tour groups were there and ended up having the place mostly to ourselves. It was vast and we could easily imagine the splendor and majesty of the site in its glory. The Olympic Games were held here every four years from the 8th century BC until the 4th century AD, when Byzantine ruler Theodosius the first banned them. The modern Olympics were restored in 1894.
We get back on the road to Kalamata. Our hotel is modest, but right at the water front, which is lined with shops and restaurants. The climate is temperate/warm and clearly conducive to outdoor living and dining. We have a quiet dinner at the harbor while the fishermen are returning with their catch, illuminated by a beautiful sunset and a bright half moon. Mesmerizing!
Remember my post about the band City of the Sun back in Athens? Well, one of the men we sat with asked us to reach out when we were in Kalamata. I reach out to Ioannes (John) and we agree to meet for lunch the next day. Before lunch we need to do laundry. And since the hotel takes 3 days, I find a self-service nearby. SmartWash is great. The wash includes the detergent and softener. Our large load was €8 and the dryer was €2. The entire wash and dry took only an hour. I hope we find more of these in Europe when we need them.
Ioannes picks us up at the hotel later. He also brought his beautiful wife Maria and his adorable 11 year old daughter Alisha, who has a hilarious hatred of any fruit or vegetable. They take us to lunch at Casa Marina, the yacht club Ioannes DJs at on Friday nights. Too bad we didn’t arrive until Sunday. Anyway, we enjoy a lovely meal, lively conversation and arrange to meet for dinner the next night.
The next day we decide to go on a mission to find an olive mill. We don’t want to do a tour, so we just drive out to an olive mill in nearby Messenia, but it’s closed. The roads are ancient, narrow, winding and inviting to us so we keep driving. We see a road sign directing us to Ancient Messenia and decide to go. It’s a good decision and we meet the owner of the only restaurant who is also the owner of the only store and we buy some olive oil. Since they don’t ship, we find a DHL back in Kalamata and ship ourselves. It’s obviously more expensive to ship but we can’t be lugging olive oil around for another two months… c’mon!
After another fantastic meal at Kardamos with Ioannes and family, we walk to Caffe Greco, an authentic espresso bar and vow to return in the morning before we leave town. Next we visit the cosmetic store La Vie en Rose and we are taken by the absolute beauty of the packaging and bottles. I make another vow.
We exchange tearfully, joyful goodbyes and plan to stay in touch, with hopes to see each other again. This connecting with people of Greece is the best part of our trip.
You are having great adventures by meandering and leaving free time in the schedule to search out experiences that aren’t on the beaten path.
I love that you met up with the DJ and his family, and were able to visit again!
While I planned for months, I also left most days open for us to explore. And that has made all the difference. We love everything about Greece, but mostly the people here. ❤️
So enjoying your blog and the pictures. Tom looks younger than usual. The Mediterranean air must be good for him. Carry on and have a great rest of your trip
Kalamata olives have taken on a deeper meaning for me….thank you!