Waiting For Godot

Close to fully recovered I headed out this morning for a day trip to Tivoli and the Villa d'Este. The estate was originally owned by a cardinal who had over ambitious plans for a ridiculous amount of fountains in his garden. The result? A gorgeous backyard that ended up being finished by those who owned the property after him. Much was done in his time, but originally planned fountains appeared after his death.

Transit was going well until I arrived at the Villa Adriana where I was informed I needed to take a bus to get into downtown Tivoli for the other villa. After an hour's wait I found out the bus stop I needed was 300m down the road, while two separate people had informed me the bus would come right to the villa. In the process I met two nice French people headed the same way and an Italian woman who made sure we all got off at the right place.

I wish I could say the grounds were up to par, but with about 40% of the fountains not even working and the rest on what appeared to be water conservation level, it was a bit of a downer. The gardens were lush and green for March. With my love of water, however, it would have been great to see the fountains in full array. Nevertheless I cannot knock the peace, quiet and relatively clean air I enjoyed for a couple hours. That made it worth the hassle of getting there.

Dinner was a rerun of my previous pasta dish, but it tasted ever so good after only eating sugared biscuits, bread and fruit for an entire day. Dessert was one of my two pastries acquired a few days ago--a fried dough with a creamy goo inside (perhaps with coconut?). All delicious and exciting my taste buds for my second mystery dessert.

The Crossroads of Anceint Greece

The big event for the day was to visit Ancient (Arkaia) Korinthos and its museum. Since this was the only thing on my list to do today, I took a nice, slow stroll through the site. I actually read some of the signs instead of just taking pictures and moving on. Most of the city has collapsed on the ground due to earthquakes, erosion, time passing and new civilizations coming to power. Like most historical sites I've seen, each time the area changes hands, a new city layout is created and new buildings are put on top of or in addition to the old. Many of the sites show at least two or three different layers of cities on the same plot of ground. Most begin around 500BC, a second around 400-200BC and then another at roughly 100-300AD.

While meandering through the old city, I actually stood where St. Paul would have spoken to the Corinthians about 1,960 years ago. I walked where ancient civilizations shopped for food. I heard the natural spring (still rushing with water) where these people used to gather water. I traversed part of an ancient road lined with shops and temples. What all of this means, I have no idea. It's certainly mind stretching to think that you are plodding across ground where millions of people have walked. What did they see and hear? What inspirations and lessons did they take from this place? How where they different for having passed through this area?

Right next door to the ancient city is a restaurant owned by Nikos. He's a talkative guy who has been living and working in the town for 30 years. I stopped in to chat with him and he served me up an orange grown from his backyard (yeah, there's orange and lemon trees everywhere in Greece) saying that I needed to get my "veetamins to stay strong while traveling." It was deliciously juicy and ripe.

Knowing my room would be chilly at this time of day, I wandered about in the warm sunshine and read the rest of Acts and a good chunk of I Corinthians. Eventually the sun disappeared, so I headed for the room and some TV. Did you know they broadcast MXC (Most Extreme Elimination Challenge) in Greece? I had no idea, but what a delightful and hilarious release while traveling.

I ate dinner at Nikos' restaurant where I enjoyed the Greek delicacy of elliptical shaped meatballs in a red (really it was more orange and greasy than red) sauce with french fries (i.e. potatoes), a greek salad and some of Nikos' homemade wine. It was all quite delicious and very filling. As a treat, Nikos offered me some apple with honey (also made by him from his bee keeping hobby) and cinnamon.

After such a filling meal, another young traveler stopped over to invite me for a walk around the town to settle dinner. Manuel is from Paris, France and interested in seeing the ancient sites related to Greek Mythology. Turns out we have very similar temperaments (we both like lots of variety, enjoy traveling, love to cook and don't like to be in one place for too long). We must have walked for about 2 hours when we decided to grab some tea and warm up. Knowing that I would be in Paris in the near future and fortunately just before he heads to Texas (yes, a friend of his wants to go to Texas of all places in the US to see tornadoes--really.), he offered to meet up with me in Paris or to simply send me some e-mails about what is good to see and where to go in Paris. I was most thankful as France is probably the country that holds the least amount of interest for me and Paris seems like a daunting metropolis to live in for even a few days. Hopefully our paths will cross!

When I returned to the room tonight, the temp was up to 68F! Woo hoo! That will send me off to a comfortable sleep I hope.

Back to Home Base

Adrian, Stefan, Jackie and I ventured back to the boats this morning hoping to try out the leg rowing style in a traditional boat. The workers at the dock commandeered three women passing by to take us out in their boats. We ended up sitting in the boat while they rowed. It was a nice way to pass the time, but I really did want to try my leg at rowing. Perhaps the next time I canoe… Stefan tried rowing, but never mastered the standing part and headed back to shore. Adrian was able to stand and after a few imbalanced attempts at rowing, he promptly dove into the water cloudy and dark with dirt seen to have chicken feathers and food waste floating in it.

A few of us wandered through the market across the street from the hotel where we picked up some mangoes and then headed back to board the bus toward Heho for our flight back to Yangon. Truly I will miss the mountains.