After Athens and Delphi, to avoid changing places every day, we put down our suitcases in Xiropidago, a small seaside resort near Nafplio and we visited the tourist sites of the Peloponnese.

Itinerary

Day 1 : Paris Athens

Day 2 et 3 : Athens

Day 4 : Athens Delphi

Day 5 : Visit to Delphi

Day 6 : Visit to Nafplio

Day 7 : Visit to Olympia

Day 8 : Visit to Epidaurus

Day 9 : Back to Athens and go tu Sifnos

Day 10, 11, 12 : Sifnos

Day 13 : Sifnos Athens

Day14 : Athens Paris

Day 6

Xiropidago is a very small village of about 300 inhabitants on the Mediterranean coast, in the Argolic Gulf. We are far from the hordes of foreign tourists. Here, it is the Greeks who come to spend a few days of vacation. The sea is beautiful and the beach is very quiet.

Nafplio is about 23km from our little corner of paradise. It is a historic and touristic city of about 14,000 inhabitants. These small streets at the foot of the citadel and by the sea are perfect for strolling and having a good coffee or a good lemon ice cream.

Day 7

Olympia is one of our must-sees for this trip. It takes about 2.5 hours to get there from Xiropidago, because you have to cross the Peloponnese across its entire width.

Olympia is a mythical place that everyone knows because of the Olympic Games, of course. The Olympic flame is still lit there a few months before the opening ceremony of each game. Initially, it was a sanctuary, not a city, inhabited only by temple staff and priests of the cult. This sanctuary was dedicated to Zeus, under whose auspices the Games were held every four years, starting in 776 BC.

It is the only place, other than the Acropolis in Athens, where we really saw a lot of tourists during our stay.

Day 8

Last visit to a mythical site of our trip: Epidaurus. The site is about an hour's drive from Xiropidago.

The visit takes place in two parts: the archaeological site and the theater itself.

Archaeological site

The ruins are less beautiful than those we have already seen. But the panorama is magnificent.

Theater

If the archaeological site did not particularly excite us, the theater impressed us.

The theater is very well preserved and the view from the top of the stands is breathtaking.

The sound quality is remarkable. You absolutely have to try the following experiment: one person stays in the center of the stage and another goes up to the top of the stands. The one who stayed at the bottom starts to speak without shouting and the one sitting at the top will be able to hear him without any problem. It is magical.

Day 9

Transition day, we leave Xirropidago towards Athens to take the boat to Sifnos in the afternoon.

We leave our car with a representative of the rental agency who came to pick it up at the port of Piraeus. The service was impeccable from start to finish.

Three hours of crossing later we arrive on the island of Sifnos, the last stop on our trip.

To be continued...