A day at the beach part 2 – Epidaurus Limera

Thursday 28^th October 2010

The penultimate day of our Greek holiday, well the final day really, considering that Friday wil be spent driving back to Athens.

Morning broke with sunshine and lots of patchy cloud, both out to sea and over the mountains. Although it is pleasant enough at the cottage there is really no view and no sunshine either, which may be great on a sweltering hot summer’s day but today was it was uninspiring so, like typical Brits Abroad we drove to the beach and started the day sat in the car with our jumpers on as it was too cold and windy to sit on the beach in our swim wear.

After an hour or so the temperature had risen slightly, although it was still too breezy to sit on the beach so I suggested that we go and explore Epidaurus Limera. We had spotted the ruins from the road a few days ago and this morning we saw a sign proclaiming an archaeological site, although we had missed the sign the previous times we had been down the road. There was even a path leading from the road up to the ruins.

As we climbed up the path we came across an unusual example of the local wildlife. I called for D to hurry to look, then realised that there was no point in her rushing really.

As we climbed the hillside a settlement of some significant size was revealed in a number terraces built into the hillside. Going round to the left hand side more terraces were found at the back and an easy route to the summit was managed. Along with the terraces large number of dressed stones were apparent as were a number of areas of the bed rock that had obviously been worked. On reaching the summit plateau large number of roofing slates and other stonework were easily visible lying on the surface. The view from the top, both out to the rock of Monemvasia and inland towards the mountains was stunning.

The view from the top of Epidaurus Limera, looking towards Monemvasia.

The view from the summit of Epidaurus Limera, looking inland.

We went back to the car for lunch and continued to sit in the car, reading, while waiting for it to warm up enough for us to sit outside. Instead it just got cloudier, and definitely didn’t get any warmer. Eventually, when the sky was almost completely covered in cloud I plucked up the courage to go for a swim. The initial shock soon passed and the water felt quite warm in some places with only the breeze bringing a slight chill. After about 20 minutes in the water I had had enough and so returned to the car to dry off and get changed.

A short while after that we headed back to the cottage where I had another cold shower. It occurred to me again that we have a pump for the shower at home the switch is in the shower room – operated by a pull cord, not in the garage or an outside loo! After the shower we packed our things away ready to depart the next day, before heading out into the rain for dinner on Monemvasia. As we reached the end of the river bed leading from the cottage to the road, we noticed a ship out to sea. D joked that it was hers as it had Deniz written on the side.

October 28^th is “No day” in Greece (when Metaxas denied permission for the Italians to cross Greek land during the war, thus pulling Greece into WWII on the side of the Allies),and a public holiday, so the roads were busier and there were more people in the old town. We went back to Marianthi for dinner, despite the odd waitress. Cheese stuffed peppers and deep fried cheese triangles to start with, followed by spaghetti and meatballs for me and Stamna for D. We again were presented with the honey soaked breadcrumb desert but they did not serve any Greek coffee! A Greek restaurant, that boasts that it only serves Greek food, did not have any Greek coffee! After dinner we headed back to the car – it was very dark walking down the road to the car and raining, as well as a bit blowy, but we managed to find the car, Ike, and its flush flashing non knobs.

Back at the cottage I had a cup of Greekified Nescafe to make up for not having any coffee with dinner and then the last bottle of Mythos, then it was time for bed – our last night at Limonas. Thankfully the rats were not too noisy and we managed a decent night’s sleep.