JOMO (Greek Vacation Adventure Journal, Day 14)

Oh, yay!! Today was the day I had a meltdown.  hahaha....that's a joke, but a little bit the truth.  There is never a vacation to be had that I don't get overly tired and cry about something.  Well, in this instance, yes I was overly tired, and apparently in digestive distress, and cried over nothing/a.k.a. I'm Exhausted Tears.  I did have a good night's sleep and a good breakfast, so my exhaustion can not be blamed on that.  I mean, I made it all the way to Day 14 without any issues!!  Yay Me!  I was experiencing a great deal of anxiety before the trip that I wasn't going to be able to keep up.  I'm not young anymore.  I used to have a reserve of unknown energy that I could tap into, of which I did all through my college and young adult years.  Lots of fun to be had, and lots of things to accomplish.  But as I am now older and wiser, I know I no longer have that thing.  And I certainly DO NOT suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out).  I told Chris before we left, I've been a lot of places and done a lot of things.  Greece is going to be amazing, but if I need to sit out an adventure, then I need to be able to do that without anyone getting upset with me.

Today was the day.

So first we went to Mycenae and Tyrins, which were two archaeological sites very close to each other.  Very close to Nafplio, where we slept last night and will be sleeping again tonight.  Mycenae has stones that are so massive, the Greeks believed the giant Cyclops must have lifted them, thus the term "Cyclopean Walls."  You enter the ancient city through the famous Lions Gate, and it contains the ruins of the palace of Agamemnon.  The Mycenaeans are reportedly the first people to speak the Greek language.  They also developed trade throughout the Mediterranean.  They built large ships and traded goodies such as olive oil (yummy) and wine (lion's blood!).  Their civilization thrived between 1650 and 1200 B.C.  They were influenced by the earlier Minoan civilization on Crete.  Yay! I like those Minoans.

 Lion's Gate

Mycenaean Lizard!

Mycenae museum

Diarama!

Then the Tyrins site is a nearby fort on a hill with even more impressively massive walls than Mycenae.

Mycenae was cool.  I loved the Lion's Gate.  Tyrins was neato too.  The chamber with the triangle doorway was neat.  It was at this time however, that I had NO MORE INDIANA JONES in me.  I had had enough of the walking through the dusty rocks in the hot sun and I was exhausted and generally didn't feel very well.  So after Tyrins, I sat down on a bench in the shade and tearfully asked my sweet husband if we could go back to the hotel and leave me there for awhile to rest.  And that is what we did.  I went back to the hotel and the others went on to the Palamides, a fortress up on the hill overlooking Nafplio.  I was sad to miss it, but I have seen and done a lot of things and I needed to take care of me for a little bit.  Plus, my butt exploded just a few short minutes after arriving back in the hotel room.  Evidently something I ate didn't agree with me.  It exploded a few more times, unfortunately.  But very fortunately it didn't last long.  I drank a TON of water and tea.

Chris's pictures of the Palamides:

photo credit: Chris

photo credit: Chris

photo credit: Chris

photo credit: Chris

photo credit: Chris

After the Palamides fortress, the squad came back and we had lunch at a restaurant by the hotel.  They told me about the school kids that were on a field trip to Palamides.  Then I took a nap, while Chris went exploring.  He found an awesome beach, which I was also sad to miss, but NOPE.  Time to take care of me for a little bit longer.  Finding the JOMO, joy of missing out, a.k.a. Self Care.

photo credit: Chris

NAP!

After my nap, I was feeling quite a bit better.  I got a map of Nafplio and did a little bit of exploring on my own.  I found a cute ice cream place and ordered some pistachio ice cream and more tea from a sweet Greek man who didn't speak english.  But we figured it out.  I wrote in my journal and had a lovely time bonding with this cute city by myself.  Then I stopped into a shop that we saw yesterday and bought a cheap suitcase for our GOODIE BAG! (to bring home greek goodies.  yum yum yum.)

pistachio ice cream and chamomile tea

Nafplio is the CUTEST

Chris's pics of the beach and his explorations while I napped:

photo credit: Chris

Photo credit: Chris

Then the squad all met back up for a lovely dinner.  There was a musician walking around on the street singing songs, and he handed Brent his instrument.  I have no idea how those strings are tuned, but Brent figured it out pretty quickly and played for our amusement.  

photo credit: Brent

I love how Europe always has bubbly water on their menu.  💗

Beans.  They were yummy.

Then we had our traditional after dinner walk.  And it was time for me to put my poopy-pooped self to bed!  We head to Athens tomorrow, promising excellent adventures!

Hubs.

💙

photo credit: Chris

I went to bed and the others went to the black cat bar, where a black cat actually lives.  The bartenders joke that the cat runs the place.