Free trip to Nafplion
This weekend our college conducted day trips to Nafplion Greece, a smaller town off a southeastern coast. While most students were split up into day trips on either Saturday or Sunday, Loyola students were taken for an overnight trip. I'm not sure why but I didn't ask any questions. I guess that's Loyola's way of making up for the 30 thousand dollar difference in tuition at the two schools, and I'm fine with that because they paid for four(!) meals. In all seriousness, I'm thankful Loyola paid for a free weekend in a beautiful spot in Greece. I also feel obligated to say that so I don't seem ungrateful. I also don't want to get in trouble. Paying for food stinks but is sadly mandatory so I was excited for a weekend of free food and visiting some cool historic spots. Nafplion is directly on the water which is awesome. I love being on the water. There's so much you can do. Including, but not limited to, throwing a rock in the water, throwing multiple rocks in the water, and watching your friends throw a rock or multiple rocks in the water.
The bus trip to Nafplion was about two hours long. Halfway through we stopped at a spot with a big gift store next to the Corinth Canal, a manmade canal that connects the Ionian Sea to the Aegean Sea. We could walk across a bridge high above the canal to get a better view. We were quite high up with a body of water below us. So, naturally, many of us leaned over the edge and spit to watch our spit land in the water. It's fascinating how little it takes to entertain college students. We wanted to through rocks in the water, obviously, but couldn't find any nearby. The gift shop/convenience store/cafe got a ton of business from students while we waited to get back on the road.
Our first stop in Nafplion was the fortress of Palamidi. The fortress is built over 200 meters up atop a cliff overlooking the Argolic Gulf. We had a tour guide with us showing us around and explaining a bit of the history, however, she was very quiet. I don't remember much of the history that I did hear but I enjoyed my time at the fortress. The forts reminded me of forts I used to always visit as a kid in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, as they're both positioned on rocky cliffs. The main difference is that these forts are hundreds of years older which is amazing because you can't even really tell. I was able to take a lot of videos at the fort that I'll include in an abroad video I put together at the end of the semester.
After our stop at the fortress, we went to our first dinner. The dinner was incredible. I like going out to eat with the school for a couple reasons. The main reason is that the meal is free. There's nothing better than a free meal. It's like using your credit card to buy something. It's completely free and you'll never have to pay for it. The other reason is that the school pre-orders our meals, allowing me to try a variety of things I may have never tried on my own. The meal started with a plethora of appetizers. I wish I knew the names of them but I sadly do not. The best appetizers looked the least appetizing by far. They were little, thick green spheres. I'm not even sure what it was, but after reluctantly taking the first bite they became one of my favorite things I've tried in Greece. From what I've heard, it was fried balls of spinach with some type of cream on the inside. I asked our waitress what they were and she gave me a quiet, quick answer in Greek before returning to the kitchen which only left me more confused. I then googled "Green circular appetizers in Greece" and to my surprise found nothing. However, the name is not important. Growing up I was a fairly picky eater. I became much more adventurous in my eating habits a couple years ago. Greece has allowed me to further this and explore new cuisines I've never heard of before.
The rest of the trip followed the same pattern as the first day, we explored old stuff and ate free food. Not knowing how to describe a very similar day in a new and exciting way, I will leave you with a bullet point list followed by photos acting as the ultimate cop-out.
- Visited other forts (Forget the name but they were old and also high up)
- Visited a museum at one of these forts (Neat stuff, a lot of clay pots and figures)
- Visited a famous tomb (Can't remember who, pretty upset at that because it was very large, seemed like a big deal)
- Ate free meals
- Threw rocks in the water
- Watched friends throw rocks in the water
- Fell asleep on the bus
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