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Date: April 29, 2004
Cities: Nafplio, Epidaurus, Mycenae
 Allan took a taxi into Nafplio and exchanged traveler's
cheques at the AlphaBank at the actual exchange rate, with no margin
or extra charges. The taxi driver said that Mercedes cabs were a good
investment since they were reliable and will last many years.
On his previous trip to Greece, Allan was told that taxi drivers
resell their cabs after two years, when they are officially "used
cars," because new Mercedes have an outrageous luxury tax if they
are bought for private use instead of commercial (taxi) use. Greek
taxi drivers all pamper their cars in a way which suggests that there
is still a strong resale market. We certainly appreciated the quality of
the vehicles.
 At 10:00 we left the hotel for Epidaurus. Jane let
Allan sleep through a stop at a Byzantine church along the way. There
were several school tours at the ampitheater, so it was quite noisy as
they talked and whistled. A student played a piece on his violin,
which got his classmates' attention and quieted the theatre.
When the violinist finished, Eirini performed about 5 minutes of
oration from the play Antigone. Eirini has a great voice and stage
presence. The accoustics allowed us to hear her clearly from hundreds
of feet away with only the amplification afforded by the design of the
theatre. Afterwards we went to lunch and then on to Mycenae and the
treasury of Atreus.
 Mycenae is a neat site, with lots of interesting things
to see all close together, at least close horizontally. Allan particularly
enjoyed seeing the lion gate again. We went up to the top of the
acropolis, but not down the other side to the cistern, since coming
back over the peak would had been too much effort for us.
 One of the college girls met a guy (Spiro) the previous
night who she thinks is just wonderful, and whom she may see
again. We're leaving at 6:00 tomorrow, so most of us went to bed
early. The wake-up calls were sheduled for 4:45. We had a 19:00
meeting about the cruise this evening in the TV room. It was the first
time we'd seen a TV room used for anything this trip.
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