Hapless and Happy

Whew, this was a day! 4:15 am, my alarm went off... apparently I forgot to delete last week's alarm before our early flight. We have officially been in Greece a week. Neither of us slept well. We left to visit David's excavation around 10:30, thinking that we had plenty of time and would probably end up early at the Airbnb in Nafplio and might catch a nap. Phil took a photo of the map and I put the location of the excavation in GPS. We compared notes and agreed that it looked right..so we set off. 

Neither of these routes was the correct one

All the landmarks were there: dirt road, barking dog chasing the car, goats.

Goat pen

We saw a lot of these signs: international symbol for a hairpin turn. You basically do a U-turn, but on two levels. Our car did NOT have the right turning radius to do these well.

 It was only when we were in first gear, at a 30 degree uphill angle and were starting to slide backwards that we realized that something was very wrong.

Definitely not the right route

 

This is us now sideways on the "road" that we had been sliding down when trying to go up.

It turns out that the GPS was trying to send us to the top of Mt Lykaion via a hiking path. We began to frantically text David (recognizing the miracle that we had service still) and confirmed that we were on the wrong side of the mountain. As I type that, it sounds like an adventure, but it was terrifying. I had to get out of the car for it to continue up, we disagreed about whether to continue on, and there were bees everywhere. 

Eventually, with David's help we retraced our steps all the way back to where we started and then in the correct direction. Finally, around 12:30 we made it. David greeted us warmly and gave a very thorough tour of the site, including a trip up to the altar on the top of Mt Lykaion where we left some offerings to Zeus and Pan. It was exciting.

The view from the temenos below the altar

 Having kept him until after lunch, we drove down the mountain, having to plow through a flock of mixed sheep and goats, and bid adieu at a crossroads.

Ah, the goats.

Here is the video of them...the sound is so wonderful.

We pelted down the mountain at a stately post-adrenaline pace and thanked the gods for larger roads. That was the last mountain of the trip.

Storm coming in...luckily we didn't get hit.

We had eggs and hummus and tuna in the car and drove on to Naflion to meet our friends Vasili and Renee. The drive was smooth and we found each other in the main square. We strolled around enjoying window shopping and talking. We passed the church where the first president of Greece was shot.

The church door

The bullet hole, encased in glass

We enjoyed a lovely dinner. There were three kittens in a potted plant at our table.

We walked around the port afterwards. Phil asked me if a car was ours and he asked me to check. I took the key out of my pocket and the next thing I knew it was flying to the street. Phil and I both knew exactly what was happening even before it slipped through the storm drain grate. Vasili took charge and went for help. A man walking towards us had apparently witnessed the tragedy. He mumbled something and walked in another direction, returning with a wire. Renee and I stared down in disbelief at the keys. At least we could see them. When Vasili and Phil went into a nearby tourist shop to ask for help, the owner immediately produced a coat hanger and pliers, saying that this had happened before.

Our kind saviors

The operation itself...it takes a village, as Renee noted.

Of course a whole group assembled to watch and kibbitz

The two parties converged..the stranger with a plastic wire and the shopkeeper with a metal wire and pliers. The two worked together and our keys were out on a jiffy. Vassilis thanked the shopkeeper and asked him what we could do to repay him. The man replied dismissively that we could get him a little bottle of water when we got the chance. Vassilis took this to mean that we should get him a bottle of ouzo. We returned from the supermarket with the ouzo: the shopkeeper was surprised, and tried to refuse the bottle. After some back and forth, he accepted the bottle with profuse thanks.

The guys trying to convince the shopkeeper to take the ouzo

Eventually we walked on, admired the boat getting a grocery delivery, said goodbye to Vasili and Renee.

Walking grocery delivery

 We wandered around, decompressing, enjoying ice cream, and waiting for Alex who is coming in from the Athens airport by bus.

Kids playing soccer at 11pm

It must be kitten season

An old Turkish fountain

A gate with the most beautiful fragrant jasmine I've ever smelled.

We found the hotel that we had stayed at one year up the side of the mountain.

Happily, Alex arrived on time and without incident. I am very glad that the incidents were ours and he has a relatively smooth trip.

11:30pm Souvlaki dinner...a normal time to eat!

For anyone still reading, "hap" is an interesting word. It is related to happy and hapless and happen, and basically means luck or chance. So "hapless" is "luckless" and "happy" is basically being in a state of good luck. If something just "happens" it occurs by chance. I think we were simultaneous hapless and happy: lost, but with working cell service. Lost keys, but with very kind and helpful strangers. Stressful day, but with loved ones.