July 26, Day 2

We woke up early for a run (or walk, as the case was with my friends) back on the hill we hiked the evening before. It was sunrise, and the view of Athens in the early morning was beautiful. From there we got home, packed up, and set off for a long drive to Monemvasia (more on that later). On the way, we stopped at the Corinth Canal, separating the Peloponnese and Greece mainland. Rulers began considering digging the canal in the 7th century B.C, and though the first real attempt was made to build it in the first century A.D., it wasn't fully built until the 1890s. The canal is 4 miles long, and at only 71 feet wide, most modern ships can't navigate through it, so it is basically unused now.





At the Canal, there was a palm reader, and we couldn't resist. I know it was a crock, because after reading my palm, on a scale of 1-10 I got a 10 for sex. Given my current state, this was either amusing or depressing. So, according to the Corinth palm reader, I have a 8 for life, 5 for luck, 6 for health, 2 for love (awesome), and 10 for sex. However, it did say, "One of those rare brilliant marriages which often happens to the really fortunate seems to lie in store." It also said, "If you can't find sexual satisfaction, you start to drink." Bottoms up!





The rest of my fortune read:

The opposite sex is emotionally susceptible to your charm and will often help you. You like sophistication where both sex and food are concerned. You will be included to change the course of your existence with a decision which could prove disastrous. You often show artistic or cultural interests.

Carrie and Jill had equally interesting fortunes, most alarmingly stating that Jill was driven to infidelity. Funny.


We made it to Monemvasia, a very small cliffside town on an east coast peninsula of the Peloponnese, early afternoon. Monemvasia means "single entrance," which is true to it's name. There's one way in, a small gated entrance. We dragged our bags up the hill and through the town (no streets in Monemvasia, only cobbelstone walkways, not so friendly to rolling suitcases) to our charming hotel room. It was probably my favorite hotel we stayed in. And I just loved Monemvasia. It reminded me of some of the cute Italian hillside towns I've been to, but was different. It was Greek! We enjoyed lunch and I made the mistake of ordering "small fried fish," which was not one small fish, fried, but many tiny fried fish. Lesson learned. We loved the Monemvasia wine we had, though, and were glad to be able to enjoy another bottle at dinner. Yum!






I went a little crazy taking pictures in this town, and of the fortress on the hill, built in 583 A.D. Every time I turned around there was a view I wanted to capture. Here are just a few:






I really liked Monemvasia, and though we only had a little over a day there, I feel like we explored the entire town and I have a good sense of the place. That night we headed to the shore to listen to the waves and star gaze. We shared our favorite moments of the day and not two minutes after I said that it might be right now, but my phone rang (the town doesn't have street lights and our hotel was out of flashlights. thanks to my "my lite" app, we made it safely around town at night, so my phone happened to be on). It was my credit card company stating that close to $2000 worth of purchases had been made within the hour to internet websites, not two hours after my first purchase in Greece. My cc company was checking to see if they were my purchases, and since they weren't, they took the charges off and canceled my card. Which was great, except that was my only real form of money while I was gone. I figured it out, with the help of my friends, but it was a bit of a downer. No matter, I was in paradise!