Tuesday, May 1 Nauplio & wine

Tuesday, May 1

Happy May Day.  Happy Workers Day.  Wreaths of flowers are hung on May 1 - anything from wildflowers to flowers from your (or neighbors') gardens. This hotel has lovely roses and a rose in our room as well.

Another tradition some Greeks follow is to do their first swim at the beach on May 1.  We are in the Peloponese region of Greece, on the Aegean sea, though our hotel is not near the water.

Today we will learn a bit about wine and visit a local winery en route to Nauplia (also called Naplio, Nafplia, Nafplion - each town seems to have at least two spellings, sometimes more!)

 One of the women from San Diego - Susan - works at a winery, so she gave a short lesson about wine tasting while we were on the bus, so that we can all use the five s's( sight, swirl, smell, sip, and spit) at the tasting (though I didn't see anyone spitting.)  She talks about tannins and flavors, decanting and temperature, etc.  The best thing to do, she says, is practice, practice, practice, which everyone happily agreed with :)

We are also in citrus country as we pass many orchards.  And more bee boxes too.  The highway is a nice one with good signage in both Greek and English.

Wine is popular throughout Greece and many families make their own.  We are in Nemea now, which is the heart of wine country where it has been produced for over 3,000 years.  We visit KTIMA BAIRAKTARIS winery in the lovely countryside.

 Nicholas tells us about his winery, saying they pick 4 varieties of grapes in late August or September by hand, and store them briefly to reach optimum temperature (4 degrees celsius = 40 degrees F.) The grapes are pressed, juice filtered and it is either bottled or put into oak barrels to ferment until it stops "boiling". They are experimenting with huge ceramic containers too rather than oak - as some places in Italy do, and use corks that are a mix of wood and resin because they don't retain bacteria as much as pure cork.

We sample a few wines, along with cheese, meat and bread.  Greg and I find most too sweet, but there is a red (Nemea Monolithos) we like so we buy a bottle to share later in the trip.

We stop next at Hotel Amalia to drop bags.  This is a chain, though the three we have stayed at so far do not look at all alike.  But they are very nice, with lots of outdoor seating, pools, and dining rooms with white linens.   At other outdoor restaurants, they often bring a "table cloth" of paper that is placed over the material one and fastened either with clips or elastic (it is a windy area).

We head toward Nauplia, which was the first capital of freed Greece, and is a bit more "elegant" per Emmie than other cities.  Around here, she says, you will see people with beads. These are not prayer beads, but just something to fiddle with, like worry beads.  They can be plastic or amber, quartz or other materials and range from 5 euros to hundreds in some shops called "museums".

We are going to "Old Town", the oldest part of the city which is topped by a Venetian Fortress.

There are palm trees, though they are not native. 1000's were brought to Greece when they hosted the Olympics in 2004.

Old town is a warren of narrow streets and stairs, since like many towns, it is built on a hill.  Because this is a holiday it is quite busy.  We have a couple of hours to walk around, so we head up the hill where the crowds thin.  Lots of pensions that rent rooms or apartments up there.  Beautiful bougainvillea and other flowers, lots of shops, restaurants, etc.  

Here are some of the worry beads in a "museum" shop.

 Much more fish on the menus than we have seen before. We stop and sit and have a drink and people watch.  This is very common in Greece - almost expected - and the drink of choice seems to be iced coffee, though we opt for Mithos Beer and a lemon granita, kind of like a slushy.

There is a display of yachts going on at the harbor. WOW. These things are huge!

Back to the hotel where a hot shower feels great and we meet the group for a buffet dinner.  Plenty of food at all the buffets and this one includes wine.  I guess with the numbers of people they serve, a buffet is most efficient. Most of the meat dishes are slow cooked and very tender - pork, chicken, veal and sometimes lamb.  Lots of fresh tomatoes, zucchini, cheeses.  Always several yogurt options, along with baked sweets and cakes. Usually a pasta dish or two and sometimes risotto.  Since their visitors come from all over the world, I suppose they try to have something for everyone, as well as Greek specialties.  Lots of German folks at this hotel - I think I even saw sauerkraut on the buffet!