{"id":4851,"date":"2019-05-13T15:23:14","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T15:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4youth.gr\/?p=4851"},"modified":"2019-05-20T15:56:17","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T15:56:17","slug":"easter-trip-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/4youth.gr\/index.php\/2019\/05\/13\/easter-trip-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter Trip 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a\ngroup we decided we want to make use of our two weeks Easter holidays and\ntherefore came up with the idea to travel around the Peloponnese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nplanning process, which started weeks before we set off to Athens on the 20th<\/sup>\nof April, proved to be difficult and lead to use changing our route more than\nonce, as we had to figure out a way how to manage with the varying bus\nschedules on national holidays as well as weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nstarted our journey on Saturday morning by taking the plane to Athens where we\nmet one of our friends from the On-Arrival Seminar for lunch. In the evening we\nproceeded by bus to Delphi, our first official stop of our trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nDelphi we stayed in a small traditional hotel and used our time to visit the archeological\nsite as well as the archeological museum. Whilst walking around the city we\nalso came across an amphitheatre, located in the European Centre, where we tried\nout the amazing acoustic, those theaters are so famous for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nMonday we took the bus to Patras, the next stop of our journey. Our hotel was\ndirectly located in the city centre, giving us the perfect opportunity to\nstroll around and enjoy the atmosphere of the city. Once we had settled in and\nrested for a bit we went out to explore and ended our first night in Patras\nwith a nice dinner in a small restaurant. As the castle and theatre of Patras\nwere closed on Tuesday, we paid them a visit on Wednesday morning before we set\nout for Olympia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our\nfirst impression of Olympia was small, yet very touristic town, with various\nsouvenir shops along the main road. During our stay we visited the\narcheological site and in the evening found a nice trail leading us through\nhills and trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip to Kalamata was kind of adventurous as we took a taxi, which saved us a lot of time, instead of the bus what we had originally planned. Our days in Kalamata were relaxed and we mostly spend them at the beach, as it was warm enough to lie in the sun and go for a quick swim. The apartment we had managed to rent was very spacious and even had a washing machine, which we made us of as most of us only travelled with hand luggage and therefore only had clothes for one week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we wanted to experience the traditional Greek Easter we went to church on Saturday night. At midnight the church\u2019s bells started ringing, people lit their Easter candles and balloons were set into the air. The atmosphere during the celebration was very festive and it in general it was impressive to watch. On Monday we also went to see an Easter celebration, typical for Kalamata, where men are holding self-made burning rockets in their bare hands. The tradition is kind of similar to the Rocket War in Chios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our next\nstop was Nafplio. On our way there however we made stop in Corinth, as we had\nto change the bus, and used to opportunity to marvel at the impressive canal.\nSadly we didn\u2019t see a ship go through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nenjoyed our stay in Nafplio a lot. The city has a part with small streets lined\nwith cafes, shops and restaurants, just perfect for strolling around. While\nexploring the city we also found a nice little beach, where we spend one of our\ndays. Nafplio also has two castles, both of which we explored. In order to get\nto one of the castles you have to go up a ton of stairs but it is worth it, the\nview from up there is nothing but amazing. As we were already in the area we\nmade a trip to Epidaurus on Thursday so we could also see Greece\u2019s largest and\nmost impressive ancient theater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nFriday we took a bus to Athens, the last stop of our journey. Our stay there\nwas however not without problems. When to tried to do the self check-in to our\napartment we found out that someone had tried to break open the key save and\nmade it impossible for us to get out the key. In the end after, informing our\nhost about the situation, we had to wait two hours before we got another key.\nThe neighborhood was not exactly the nicest but the apartment itself was fine\nand even had a washing machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the\nevening we did a Free Walking Tour, recommended by a couple we had met in\nNafplio. The tour was a really nice experience. \nWe got a lot of information and shown to hidden places, which we most\nlikely wouldn\u2019t have discovered ourselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next\nmorning, while eating fresh cinnamon rolls from the bakery as breakfast we had\nto use a blow dryer and flat iron to dry our clothes, which we washed the\nprevious day, as they didn\u2019t try by themselves over night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was\njust our luck that it was raining when we had made plans to visit the Acropolis.\nOnce we had dropped off our luggage at public lockers, we still made our way up\nto the archeological site. After walking around for a bit and looking at the\ndifferent temples, we came to the agreement that none of us was overly\nimpressed, which could have also been due to the constantly heavier getting\nrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before\nwe went to pick up our luggage and got on the metro to get to the airport we\nhad lunch in a small restaurant that served fresh made pasta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a nice end to two amazing weeks full of fun and unforgettable moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n