Day+6-Crossing+the+Peloponnese

Day 6

We woke up and set out for the next museum. This one was in the square in Nafplio, within walking distance from our hotel. We were at the doors exactly when the museum opened at 8:30 so that we could get an early start. The museum housed artifacts from Curtis’ site, the Francthi cave. We also saw nice black and white photos of the Tiryns excavation. The main artifact the museum held was a bronze cuirass at Dendra. The armor was such an important find because it is the only example of a full bronze cuirass during the Mycenaean age. We watched a movie on the cuirass and learned that when it was found, all the townspeople rejoiced for finding such an important artifact.

After leaving the museum, we set out on a bus ride to Mistra. We crossed over mountains as we traveled across the Peloponnese. The view was absolutely breathtaking through the mountains. We stopped at Mistra, a very well preserved Byzantine town in the mountains along a hillside. Mistra is still in use today as a monastery. We climbed up to the first basilica, but it was under preservation construction. Along the way, we saw a donkey. At the next basilica, we were able to go inside. As Shrita put it, “You don’t have to be religious to feel spiritual in this space.” The basilica was absolutely stunning inside, with frescoes along the walls and ceiling. It was silent inside but only added to the effect. At Mistra, I saw a nun dressed in full head-to-toe black and couldn’t imagine how hot that outfit could be in the heat. I was surprised when I noticed she was wearing a pair of black Crocs as well!

After Mistra, our group decided to have a quick lunch so we could make it to the beach in Pylos. We stopped in a small town outside of Mistra and ate our fastest meal yet. We continued our drive through the mountains (equally as beautiful) and upon arrival in Pylos, we set out straight to the beach. Even though the water was chilly, a couple of people made sure to get into the water. We also noticed the tar on a few rocks that we had been told about. This is from thousands of years of shipping on the Mediterranean sea.

That night, we ate dinner at a restaurant right beside our hotel. We ran into Ms. Mellican and Shrita at the same restaurant (the menu looked delicious!) and then we got dessert at the pastry shop across the street. We went for the traditional Greek dessert, baklava, and it was absolutely delicious!

Later that night, we played a heated game of cards in one of our rooms. We had been playing this game in our downtime, but this night it turned into a big competition. It involves passing cards along the group, trading out cards and trying to get four of a kind. If you get four of a kind, you have to do a signal (determined between partners) to let your partner know. If you are the first pair to call out, you win the round. If another team thinks they see you doing a signal, they can call it out and win the round. Cassie and Shruti won the first game to 15, and Lindsay and Lexi won the second game. Rachel and Sam won their first (and only) round this night.