Wednesday, November 12th, 2025

Epoch, morning

We left Monemvasia reluctantly under a perfect blue sky (Zeus must be happy with us again!) and elected to do the windy by scenic drive to Leonidio – which we had heard about constnatly from other climbers in Kalymnos. Coming down through the limestone valley on curvy roads and coming across climbers high up on the red and gray mountains was one of the highlights of the trip. The view was unlike anything we’d seen, and once again exceeded expectations for what we thought things would be like. Although we of course had all of our climbing gear in the back of the car, the approaches and climbs were a bit above our skill level and effort-willingness. We stopped briefly about halfway to Leonidio in a small hill town called Kosmas, which felt like an autumn out of a story-book. One restaurant was open and there were church bells ringing, with crisp fall air blowing through. In Leonidio proper we expected to stop for lunch and do some research on potential climbs and hotels for the night Unfortunately, the internet and cell service was down in the entire town. Handwritten papers on cafe windows read “no wifi. whole town.” Without much info or pre-research we were fairly helpless – it was a strange feeling. We instead got some take-away vegan sandwiches from a cool climbers; co-op and moved on. It was a bit of an odd experience to be sure.

Following the sea, we took the windy highway all the way to Nafplio, where we found a nice hotel in old town and saw a 450 million euro mega yacht in the harbor that is allegedly owned by a sheik with 2 wives! We had spritz & chips by the water for sunset and wandered around town; a large and looming venetian fortress watches over the town from high on a nearby hill. We had some expensive if a little disappointing dinner and fed the leftover tuna to some lucky street cats.

Wednesday morning we had breakfast in our hotel room and sequestered some of the extra orange-blossom honey to take home before driving to the mega-ancient Mycenae. This This civilization was 1000 years old to the ancient Greeks! We clambered around their ruined hilltop fortress and city. The highlights were the gate leading out the back way to escape possible intruders, a gigantic underground cistern, the lion-gate with astonishingly huge rock pieces (built before the arch was invented), and a beehive-like tomb with incredible acoustics and a daunting walk in that felt regal and solemn.

Next was a drive to Epidavros, with a stop for gyro on the way. I had a veggie burger with entirely too much ketchup on pita for me – gross! Epidavros was a place people came for healing and medical miracles in ancient Greece, and has a nice 15,000 seat theater. The acoustics at the theater were wild, and the view from the top serene and gorgeous. It make me appreciate Berkeley’s greek theater and the memories I have there all the more.

With gorgeous, sleepy fall weather we headed to the beaches near Nafplio, checked out some lackluster climbing crags (bolted by our guy James Titt who bolted so much of San Vito in Sicily!) and walked along the pretty coastal trail that connects to town.

We had a spritz on the water, of course, and then rested a bit before dinner at an Italian spot – I’ve never been in more desperate need of pizza. The food and wine was fine, but the best part of dinner was this eccentric lady in all red with a big red outfit, big red hairbow, and big red personality. First, she wanted to sit alone at a 4-person table. The staff kindly asked her to pick another table. Next, she asked for a larger pour of wine. When she got a very average pour she said, “what is this!?” and asked if the waiter was making a joke. The poor waiter explained that the wine comes in single-serve bottles, and this was a standard pour. Next came her chicken, which she demanded to speak to the manager about. “What is this!? This is nothing! It is all sauce! Is this even chicken?” The manager asked where she was from! Drama! She said “it doesn’t matter!” Jordan and I had some guesses. Anyway, she stormed out. We tried to find her later to no avail. After rehashing the scene thoroughly after she left, we made our way to bed. In our hotel room, we watched the movie 300.

Reading: Circe

Listening: Homer’s The Odyssey