Aug 12, 2016

Day Fifteen

Monday, July 11th

Today was a traveling day as we head towards Corfu. We drove for a few hours from Olympia to Arta.

On our way we passed over the Rio-Antirrio Bridge that connects the Peloponnese and the mainland. The bridge was finished just before the 2004 Olympics and the torch bearer was the first to go over it.

If I’m being completely honest with you, I didn’t really understand the significance of this bridge. It kinda just looked like a bridge to me. But there’s a huge video on it and Colin seemed REALLY into it, so I’m going to trust this bridge is really as awesome as they say it is. It offers a great form of transportation that Greece didn’t have until 2004 and the water in Greece is rough, so maybe that’s why it is so awesome? Maybe my American privilege is also showing- we have so many huge, long bridges that I take for granted not everyone has the opportunities and the infrastructure we have. Or maybe this is really just an awesome bridge. I don’t know. I’m bad with this stuff. I can’t tell you what my transmission does. I like books and ancient statues. But yay! It was pretty!

I took this picture from Colin’s Instagram because he takes better pictures than me. Actually, now that I look at it, this is a really beautiful bridge. The view isn’t bad either.

We stopped in a small town called Nafpaktos for lunch. It was slow and I got some kinda bland pasta, but it’s Greece so I guess that’s what I get for ordering pasta for lunch. The view was beautiful, though!

We continue our (long) drive and arrive in Arta. Here we see a bridge that may have had a foundation in Roman times, but it was built by Byzantines in the early 1600s. It has a really creepy story involving the master’s wife being sacrificed because a bird told him that was the only way he could build the bridge, and obviously a structure is more important than your most beloved human being so he believed the bird and chose the bridge. Because of his decision the wife is hanging out in the foundation. Maybe. I really hope there’s a skeleton in there and this story is true, actually, just because it’s so messed up and I want some folklore to be true for once.

There was graffiti by the foundation of where she would be. It’s a gorgeous bridge overlooking some pretty water. An unfortunate story, though. Stupid bird.

The hotel we stay at in Arta has a pretty good buffet dinner, and more conveniently, great drink prices. Most (if not all) of the group stays downstairs and hangs out for a bit. I didn’t play Uno, but a few people sat and played Uno and some of us drank a little too much wine and played Drunk a Tron. It was a great time, highly recommend that hotel!