in BikeHobo, Greece

Today’s plan was to take the unladen bike on a circuit of the hills, to include Tyrins, Argos and the Archaeological site of Mycenae. The main site is temporarily closed unfortunately, but there are other interesting ruins in the area, including the Tomb of Agamemnon. He’s the guy that oversaw the sacking of Troy. All that trouble over one woman. Some things never change! 😄

Breakfast was served on the veranda where I was able to catch up on some work mails. The weather was perfect again, 35 degrees predicted for later.

But first, a dip at that awesome swimming hole just over the hill. A large group of older local ladies, all wearing hats and sunglasses, chattered over each other while floating in a circle. At one point, when I got too close, I felt a little exposed, in a ‘young man!’ kind of way.

I was happy to hang out snd soak it all up, perched on a rock, then dive into the water when the sun became too hot, wallowing like an upturned anorexic Nessie sporting a glowing white beer belly. I would periodically cycle back to town for a fresh pear juice. Rinse and repeat for the day. Just lovely. Archeology can wait.

The only times I broke this pleasant loop were to chat with some other tourists, who seemed drawn to me by my still pearlescent-blue Northern skin (and thus obvious non-Greekness), and that one time I opted for banana over pear. Tough decison!

After dinner, I looked-up Daniel, a Dutch crusty who was performing with his street theatre crew, and with whom I had a lively chat earlier.

We all headed for the bar, me thinking there would be wild travel stories to be told. But instead I had to listen to another series of droning rants about face masks being tools of government control. So, let’s this straight: the world economy was deliberately crashed to spite our inconsequential lives? Get real! What struck me most was the utter selfishness; all that ‘thinning the herd’ bollocks.

Thankfully I remembered that I had some vodka and Kahlua left over from Paros, and had lugged the bottles over the mountains to Nafplio. So I left to buy a litre of fresh milk, and sat outside the hotel going all ‘Geoffrey Lebowski‘ while exchanging pleasantries with other guests.