Breakfast at a rooftop room was a delight. In addition to the typical offerings that included spanakopita, there was homemade marmalade from local fruit, homemade rice  pudding, and homemade apple cake.

This morning we were setting off for Mycenae. Before we left, we learned that our hotel had  entrances on different levels. While we were up five flights of steps using the main entrance, there was a staircase near our room that led to the ground at a rear entrance. Employees of the hotel carried our luggage to and from our rooms.

Our bus took us to Mycenae, once a fortress at the top of a hill. Before the entrance there is a huge domed chamber that was once the burial site  of kings. The acoustics there were excellent. Our travel companion from Illinois was a choral singer, and she treated us to a familiar song.

The museum contains a variety of objects of interest. Mycenaeans were seafarers. They brought back gold from Egypt, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, amber from Scandinavia, ivory from Syria, and jewelry from Spain. Snakes were religious symbols. There was a variety of funeral subjects such as large urns, and  a small box that was a child’s coffin. There is a gold  funeral mask, said  to be that of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae.

Above the main entrance to Mycenae, there are reliefs of two lionesses. Logically this is called, Lion Gate.

When it was time for lunch, the bus took us back to Nafplio. While walking along the coast, Nick and I came upon a restaurant called Psara Taverna. At last we had found an open  restaurant that had the name of Nick’s ancestors!  Seafood was the restaurant’s specialty, as we expected. Notice the fresh fish under a picture of a large fish eating a smaller fish eating as squid eating an octopus. We shared a salad of shrimp, octopus and fresh anchovies in a creamy lemon dressing that we both really enjoyed.

After lunch, we walked back to our hotel  for a rest. Before dinner,  we met with the other couples who shared our courtyard, enjoying conversation and wine that one couple had bought at the winery we had visited.

I spent much of the walk to the dinner restaurant chatting with a couple  from Oregon who had been married for eight years. They asked me for the secret of a long marriage. I told them that when you wake up each morning, you have to fall in love with  your spouse all over  again. They loved this!

We had dinner at a family-run restaurant that served traditional Greek food, and musicians  singing and playing traditional instruments entertained us. Our dinner: Kalamata olives, fish roe salad, Greek salad, fried zucchini balls, two kinds of cheese wrapped in dough and deep fried, “giant” beans,  and meatballs made with pork seasoned with herbs and a touch of cinnamon. All of this was served with a choice of rice or fries.

Two of the women in our group, one from Alabama and the other from Oregon, were celebrating birthdays. The rest of us didn’t know about this,  but Angelos had everyone’s date of birth. He had gone out earlier to order a chocolate mousse birthday cake to surprise them. He told their  husbands of his plan, and they arranged for their wives to sit next to each other. The birthday celebrants  were both quite surprised!

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