Today we were heading east to Monemvasia,  on the Aegean Sea. Nick and I were looking forward to this, because we both have Aegean DNA. We stopped along the way for a mountain hike to see a remote town and its well preserved Byzantine churches. Then we had a snack al fresco at a little bar.

We enjoyed lunch together by the sea: Greek salad, freshly baked bread, eggplant salad, fried calamari,  and a small fish called mullet.  We enjoyed the entire meal, surprisingly the mullet. I ate three of them, Nick ate four, and someone at our table ate a dozen! Dessert was panna cotta with honey served in a baby food jar.

On the road again, we passed many orange groves,  hundreds of olive trees, and some palm trees. There were goats of different sizes in the meadows. During this and all the other bus rides, Angelos gave us information about the history of the area. As we came into town, we saw the ship that was to take the Olympic torch to Marseilles. We reached our hotel and settled into our room when rain started to fall just as we stepped outside for an orientation walk. Eventually Nick and I joined others from our group for dinner. Soon we were in a downpour. There were gaps in the  removable  ceiling above us, and soon were were on an island surrounded by  puddles on all sides. For dinner, Nick and I shared grilled shrimp that were quite large because their heads were still attached, and a salad. We agreed that this was the first dinner of our trip that was not a “Wow!” When the rainfall trickled to a drizzle, we went back to our hotel.

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