Date: April 29, 2004
Cities: Nafplio, Epidaurus, Mycenae


Greece
2004Allan took a taxi into Nafplio and exchanged traveler's cheques at the AlphaBank at the actual exchange rate, with no margin or extra charges. The taxi driver said that Mercedes cabs were a good investment since they were reliable and will last many years.

On his previous trip to Greece, Allan was told that taxi drivers resell their cabs after two years, when they are officially "used cars," because new Mercedes have an outrageous luxury tax if they are bought for private use instead of commercial (taxi) use. Greek taxi drivers all pamper their cars in a way which suggests that there is still a strong resale market. We certainly appreciated the quality of the vehicles.

Greece
2004At 10:00 we left the hotel for Epidaurus. Jane let Allan sleep through a stop at a Byzantine church along the way. There were several school tours at the ampitheater, so it was quite noisy as they talked and whistled. A student played a piece on his violin, which got his classmates' attention and quieted the theatre.

When the violinist finished, Eirini performed about 5 minutes of oration from the play Antigone. Eirini has a great voice and stage presence. The accoustics allowed us to hear her clearly from hundreds of feet away with only the amplification afforded by the design of the theatre. Afterwards we went to lunch and then on to Mycenae and the treasury of Atreus.

Greece
2004Mycenae is a neat site, with lots of interesting things to see all close together, at least close horizontally. Allan particularly enjoyed seeing the lion gate again. We went up to the top of the acropolis, but not down the other side to the cistern, since coming back over the peak would had been too much effort for us.

Greece
2004One of the college girls met a guy (Spiro) the previous night who she thinks is just wonderful, and whom she may see again. We're leaving at 6:00 tomorrow, so most of us went to bed early. The wake-up calls were sheduled for 4:45. We had a 19:00 meeting about the cruise this evening in the TV room. It was the first time we'd seen a TV room used for anything this trip.

cookie by
Allan West and
Jane Dominguez
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