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Monday Day 9

Well not getting many opportunities for sunrises at home it's great for it here


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After the first two days I am now into having the more healthy cereal / yogurt option lol


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with the thought of trying to get some good photographs from the mountains of Tolo with the sun behind this afternoon I had an easy beach morning


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but I just have to get lunchtime sorted


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come on Mrs Db help me out with some of these chips


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So at 5pm I headed off for the mountains using the road where the Tolo police station is based in


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Near the top of the road is the town's cemetery

and beyond it is the town's bypass which cuts across the brow here, I decided to go straight across it and up the road beyond


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However, I had picked the wrong road and should have gone right and walked down the bypass to pick the road further down leading to the house up on the mountain to the left


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The reason being that the mountain on my right obscures the harbour area


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so I tried further up


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but came across the town's waste dump with a road leading further on. I may investigate that later but for now I need to see if I can position myself for better views


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so i went down the hill and turned right towards the villa on the sign


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and passed the villas


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then above them


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giving me a lower angle on the place


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but more on that later as I pick the right road next time

for the evening meal we went back to Panorama after getting their nice toasted bread with olive oil


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but this time we were not given any but wasn't sure if it was because our bill would be smaller


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I ordered lamb chops


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Mrs Db had the chicken souvlaki with honey & tyme


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and then this time we were given free melon, the bread did appear on the bill so it was just an oversight


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walking back to the hotel


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It was still 32 degrees and I had earlier walked up the hill in that lol


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END OF DAY 9

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Tuesday Day 10

We have booked to go to Hydra and Spetsus on the Pegasus cruise which cost 34€'s pp. The boat is due to leave at 8:45am so we had an early breakfast and got a seat on board at 8:30am


People were still arriving right up to the last minute of sailing


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As the boat moved out, one couple chased down the jetty waving tickets in their hands and surprisingly the captain reversed the boat end on to let them on lol

Leaving the harbour with the Hotel Minoa in view


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The journey to Hydra is due to take just over 2.5 hours


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We would be allowed 3.5 hours on Hydra which I think is a good time to have a look around the place

As we leave Tolo you can see the Egg mountain in the distance, I just couldn't find my way up it for those tremendous views


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For the first 1.5 hours of the cruise there was not a lot to see apart from the odd barren island


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There is an air conditioned cabin on board


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The captain was busy


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this canoeist was a long way out


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after about 1 hour and 45mins we passed the Island of Spetsis where we will be later calling in on the way back


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around 11.30am we got our first glimpse of Hydra


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The boat began to move into the harbour


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The town look quite idylic with houses spreading up a mountainside


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There were some large boats in the harbour


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but all looked at bit chaotic in the harbour and we were told to disembark pretty quickly


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and told to notice the clock time of when we were due to leave


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once we were on shore our boat moved out of the harbour ready for the next boat to arrive. There were hydrofoils and all sorts coming in lol
but the island itself has no cars or motor bikes, just donkeys to transport everything


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you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours lol


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we had a look at the menu and although it was slightly dearer here, it wasn't actually too bad


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I just had a Greek salad


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Mrs Db had an omelette, the waiter declared he was a Liverpool supporter but didn't like Chelsea and had stayed in Bury St Edmonds but said he would look after Mrs Db despite her being a Chelsea supporter whilst I climbed some stairs to get some good views


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so, with the clock ticking how quickly could I get above for a view lol


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Well there are stairs after stairs after stairs lol


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Not sure how one would get on here if one is old or disabled


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but this is just an example of sets of the stairs on the way up, I have a load more photographed


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once up the top you get some good views


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Love this view of the side of the mountain


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so now down with Mrs Db on the promenade


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at the end of the promenade is a fort / castle


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view of the harbour from the fort


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one of the many guns on display


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this is a statue of Admiral Andreas Miaoulis a politician who commanded the Greek Naval forces during the Greek war of independence in 1821-1829


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There is a fire station on the promenade and this is probably the only vehicle on the island but not sure how it would get up all those stairs.


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Anyway, we set sail for Spetsis at 2:30pm and everyone was on board lol


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I can't say I was that impressed with Spetses


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They had horse and cart rides for 10 & 20€'s but really a tourist thing which seemed like a ride at a rate of a euro a minute.


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Similar prices here to Hydra without their views


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We had a short walk down the promenade, this place looked impressive but on such a hot day long walks were not really feasable


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lots of water taxi's which often sped off to different islands I think one's that had a beach

It didn't work out a good stop off for us with motorbikes coming into the port area from roads at the back but may be a better place if one knew what to see there


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and finally back at Tolo just before 7:30pm


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Tonight we are eating in the Thalassa taverna


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Mrs Db had the lamb chops


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I had the burger with Roquefort sauce


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we didn't care for their white wine from the barrel

END OF DAY 10

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Wednesday Day 11

The Curse of the Tombs, the unreleased 5th Indiana Jones film lol

Well it was a cloudy sunrise as I studied a walk from the book given to me.


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Someone had given a walk over Barbouna Hill in which the directions seem to be quite clear lol and they had managed to take an aerial view over the ancient site of Assini. Well in my other walks I had stumbled across a football ground mentioned in their walk, so I was going to attempt it myself after having the confidence of reaching the tombs on the otherside of the hill earlier in the holiday.

The sports ground mentioned in the book as a marker I don't think Tolo are in the premier league


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So I packed more water than normal as there would be no tavernas up there, money for a taxi, phone and my camera. I also had a smaller bottle of water in my hand to refill from a bigger bottle on my back in a rucksack.

To access the hill I had to walk out of town on the road heading towards the Nafplio direction


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and then made this turning on the right and walked passed the football ground as above


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all seemed to be going well to the instructions


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until I reached this farm area


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I tried every direction to get through but the pathway must have overgrown since the last walker did it and I was not going to risk getting a snake bite through undergrowth


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So after 10 minutes of searching I ended up going down a separate pathway heading down hill to the left


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Then spotting a right turn here, so I took it


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This looks far more promising, perhaps a wrong instruction in the book or I had misunderstood it


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ah, looks like I'm on my way now with just that small glitch


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but all led to this big square of land with no way through, yes I did walk all around the area but nothing, there was just this unexplained rock sitting here. It didn't even have a notice on it of 'don't lift this stone as there may be a snake under it' lol


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There was an area here where a farmer was obviously trying to do something as there were hose pipes in the ground


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but no way through beyond it but looking in my camera display over to my left I could see the rock formation of where the tombs were and there was said to be over 20 of them in the hillside


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I worked my way across to them


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and around the side

it wasn't an easy route but I now found I was on familiar ground


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Remember there are snakes in the long grass Indy, quiet Junior we made it through the other day lol


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And the sun is not in the same direction as before


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So my picture doesn't have my shadow in it


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There were more tombs above that I hadn't spotted before and one could only access via the steep pathway to the side of the tomb


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and they were steep and slippery, so I put my camera and water in my pockets so I could hang on to the long grasses to get up and down them


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These tombs have be excavated in the 1920's


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and there has been much excavation activity on Barbouna Hill since in the seventies

and this was my only view I could get of the ancient city of Assni from my long range camera


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So happy that I had achieve something I headed to the taverna near the ancient city site for a beer

it was lovely a cold


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but when I got up to pay for it I had no money, the ancestors in the tombs had used their curse and had taken my 10€ note as admission charges lol. So now I had to explain to the lady in the tavern I had lost my money and that I would return tomorrow to pay for the beer. She was very nice about it and I was full of apologies. What had happened was the small water bottle in my pocket had stuck the note to it and on pulling it out the note disappeared into the tombs area.

So if you are reading this, there is treasure in those hills and if you find a 10€ note do have a pint or two on me lol

lunch (and paid for) was at our own hotel taverna


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iced glasses here


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Mrs Db had her toastie


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And I had a tuna salad


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with a relaxing afternoon on the beach


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this evening we decided to try the taverna's in the town and chose the Tisiras Tavern as it had part sea view


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The waiter suggested the beef Stifado was a good choice so we both decided to try it

and it was so delicious, the flavours were the best we have had trying this dish


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END OF DAY 11

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Thursday Day 12

A more orange glow in the sky this morning and we had an early breakfast

as I was going into Nafplio to see what it was like as people have talked well of the place, the bus fare is 1.80€ at this time of writing


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most of the hotels and tavernas look after their piece of beach in front and a guy on a moped pulls a chain behind to rake over the beach in front of our hotel


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The bus for our end of town stops at the car park above the beach


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at Nafplio the bus stops at the Garage


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However, one has to get the bus for the return journey around the corner, where the white bus is now. The Fortress of Palamidi is behind and I understand one can catch a taxi to the top or walk up the steps


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It was suggested by an more experience couple at the bus stop that walking through the old town was well worth while


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However, it wasn't long before Delboy found he was climbing steps again


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And then found I was entering another fortress


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overlooking the sea


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with a further fortress in the sea, shame it has scaffolding around it


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ruins around this fort which are also being slowly repaired


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walking back towards the Fortress of Palamidi it looks far more arduous to climb


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but still quite a lot to see around here


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and only about 400 metres to the beach lol


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making my way out


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so a little walk back through the old town


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arriving at the foot of Fortress Palamidi, Delboy never usually shirks a challenge lol


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This Taverna nicely position below, says 999 steps but I think it is referring to walking down them after going up in a taxi, then having a pint to finish. Now the little church in Mamma Mia film in Skopelos only has 202 steps and the pitch of Pierce Brosnan voice ended up much higher at the top


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Now is there really 999 steps because I'm not going to count them and if I make it I want a recount as it's so near a thousand


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well I'm not going to photograph every section as I would run out of memory and the camera would too


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now any other fool who attempts this please take plenty of water as there are no facilities at the top or halfway either


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The views start coming and I'm not even halfway up


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I remember these stairs near the top, you struggle to look up without holding on to the concrete wall at the sides


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after quite a few stops wearing a t shirt it would be a real struggle to get up here wearing any armour. Anybody attempting this should do it in the morning as it is mostly in the shade, once the sun comes around one would just melt


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finally making it, now it's 8€'s to get in at the time of writing with 4€s for senior citizens and children. I was asked how old I was being a senior citizen and after declaring my age and probably looking the part after the walk, there were no more questions asked lol


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the view up here


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hope this lintel is secure


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some of the steps that ones needs to be careful when going up them


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found an unusual angle


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Nafplio athletics track


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This was a prison, so very small it would be impossible to stand up in but a dog has manage to find it and fall asleep


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Down below I zoomed in on a well known walk which goes around the peninsular but I wouldn't have any time or legs to do it


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As I needed to get the 12:00 bus back to Mrs Db. So I hope it gives you some idea of Nafplio. I had another 999 steps to walk down and fortunately took a change of shirts after cooling down at the bottom with a drink

I got the bus to stop just before the Ancient Assini and popped into the taverna to give the lady 5€'s for trusting me with the non paid beer yesterday and thanked her for her understanding before walking through Tolo and back to Mrs Db.

Lunchtime was in our hotel taverna where I had a shrimp salad which seem to turn into prawn lol, sorry looks like a lemon salad


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Mrs Db had the Greek salad


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The afternoon was spent on the beach and on the balcony afterwards we had a peach each and they were the size of cricket balls the fruit is fantastic here


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for the evening we tried Amvrosir another taverna in the town


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it does look over the road


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I had the chicken Tornado / Tornedo which was super


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Mrs Db had the Fantasia we both really enjoyed our meals


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and a free ice cream each to finish


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and then back to the hotel for coffee

END OF DAY 12

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Day 13

The otherside of Tolo


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So breakfast in the dining room

Yogurt, honey and melon


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before setting off to see what is beyond the mountain ridge I had photograph from the other evening


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Incidently this route is not recommended but was going to try it because it was there lol. It passes the town's infill of rubbish and is a bit whiffy as one goes passed.


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And the town has at sometime or other obviously had another tip at the other side of the mountain in the past which has been completely covered with sand and gravel


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However, beyond all this, one sees the natural landscape and the valley below with a road which I understand is a road heading to Nafplio, I am told this road eventually turns into a dirt track


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Nafplio was obviously too far for me in this heat but I had my eyes on a bay over on the left to investigate


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to my right, another road led alongside the mountains


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so it was downhill all the way

but it was a treacherously slippery path going down and I contemplated not doing it for coming back would be rough


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but took it extremely carefully getting to the bottom


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Eventually going passed this old ruined building


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I then headed along a pathway towards the bay


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An finally coming to a dead end with nowhere to go

Despite this familiar way of the Greek's telling me to follow the arrow an perhaps leading me to another potential snake pit lol


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So for me it was about turn and to head back up the mountain

I could hear the faint clanging of mountain goat bells in the distance but I haven't been fitted with one yet lol


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but summing up it was another dead end walk lol


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with a bay not accessable


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Lunch started off with a welcome beer in the hotel taverna


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We each had an omelete


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The afternoon was spent on the beach


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well with only one more day tomorrow to go up into the mountains to get my blue sea shots I have waited patiently for the clear blue sky around 5pm and if I don't go up this evening tomorrow may end up being cloudy and I will miss my chance

So going up to the bypass and walking along to the right road on the brow of the hill with this orange sign the one I did the first time


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For these I had to go right to the top of the mountain and there are some super properties up here and it took me about an 1.5 hours to get the photographs and get down for a shower


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with a last one closer up


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for our last but one evening meal we chose Panorama

part of the menu's


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Who gave us the lovely toasted bread


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I had the chichen Souvlaki with honey and tyne


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and Mrs Db had the pork fillet with Pesto sweet red pepper and balsamic syrup


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we didn't get another lovely panacotta but free melon but lovely meals


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END OF DAY 13

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Saturday Day 14

I just took the sunrise from our balcony and made Mrs Db a cup of tea


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The Pegasus ferry was just getting ready for another Hydra cruise. Once they return at 7:30pm they do another cruise to Nafplio on a Saturday at 8:30pm till Midnight for 10€'s but too late for us as we would be going home the next day


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I had ideas of making the walk over the mountains towards Nafplio but I would have to spend the next 45 minutes walking up the same mountain as yesterday but decided on the beach for the last day


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a big boat came in that I had seen on the cruise last Tuesday and went toward Vivari bay


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our last lunch was at the Minoa taverna

I had a tuna salad


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Mrs Db had an omelette


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the afternoon was spent on the beach


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afterwards we had pears as big as baseball bats well without the handle, all the fruit here are grown for giants


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For our last meal we chose the Avmrosis on the high st as their menu was more diverse and the food last time was excellent


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Mrs Db had the chicken sweet & sour


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I had the Skalopinia


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And a free ice cream each at the end


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END OF DAY 14

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Sunday Day 15

Homeward bound

Our coach was due to leave the resort at 11:00am and our hotel said we could keep the room until that time


Well I took the last sunrise from the balcony


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and I watched a fishing boat come in


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and unload their catch


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And after a leisurely breakfast and goodbyes it was time to go


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following roads with single tracks


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and passing another castle


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before hitting the motorway


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and going through many tunnels, one I noticed was 1400 metres long


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and about 5/6 toll booths


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With some spectacular scenery which I missed coming out having fallen asleep


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The bus journey took exactly 2 hours and the queue at the airport was the usual affair but we talked with another family in the queue and the time passed


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and the plane took off late


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I hope you enjoyed holidaying with the Delboy's once again and it has given you a good insight of Tolo

END OF HOLIDAY