Nemea, Corinth, to Naxos

Ok, so I know I keep saying that 'today was a long day!' but I think yesterday was the longest day yet! We left Nafplion at 9.30, which wasn't so bad, but it turns out we would have been fine leaving at a later time. We drove a few minutes to the site of Nemea, which is where Heracles slew the Nemean Lion, and where they have the Nemean Games.

We then drove to ancient Corinth.

Corinth, or Korinth (Greek Κόρινθος, Kórinthos ( [ˈkorinθos] (help·info)) is a city in Greece. In antiquity it was a city-state, on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. To the west of the isthmus lies the Gulf of Corinth, to the east lies the Saronic Gulf. Corinth is about 78 kilometres (48 mi) southwest of Athens. The isthmus, which was in ancient times traversed by hauling ships over the rocky ridge on sledges, is now cut by a canal. (Wikipedia).

Me and Natalie in front of the starting blocks of the track at Nemea.

Temple at Corinth.

I caved in and got hammer pants. Now I totally blend in with the locals.

Some mosaic at Corinth.

Then after some MORE driving, we stopped at the Corinth Canal, which I had no idea was going to be so deep. I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but it was a long way down, and I'm scared of heights. : /

The Corinth Canal.

MORE DRIVING. We got to the port of Pireaus at about 3.30 to catch our ferry to Naxos at 5.30 pm. We heard that the day before there was a strike by the Communist Party and the whole port was closed off, and that's why we arrived so early. However, I'm pretty sure the bus driver was just sick of us and wanted to leave. We got on the boat, thinking we would have seats because our ferry tickets were 30 euro. However, we were wrong, and spent the entire six hour ferry ride outside in the back of the boat on the deck. Not only this, but the boat left an hour and a half late. A couple of really nice Croatian women let us sit next to them and their little dogs in a booth, and one let me borrow her jacket when I got cold. They were awesome!

Ugh boat.

We were supposed to arrive on the island of Naxos at 11.30 pm, but because the boat left late we got in at around 1 am. I was too grumpy to appreciate the island or the cute little hotel we're staying at.

Because last night sucked so much, we had a free day today. I slept in until 9.30, ate breakfast, showered, taking my time and trying to feel better after yesterday. We decided to go exploring and then to the beach. I met a family from Tucson, and when they found out that I'm traveling to Rome after Greece, they told me that they lived in Rome for two years, and gave me a list of places to go that aren't too touristy.

The view from our hotel on Naxos.

The beach by our hotel.

Me and three other girls got on a bus to go to a beach about 20 minutes from our hotel, and it was totally worth it. There were only a couple of gypsies, and they were good ones! I actually got a foot massage from a man from Beijing, and a purse from another one. I haggled him down to 20 euro from 45! Tonight we are going out to dinner, courtesy of money already spent on the cost of the trip.

Natalie, me, Lauren and Jessica.