Search and Rescue

We were enjoying the local swimming hole along the rocky coast of the island when it happened.

At the swimming hole there is a high rock which you can jump off of into the deep clear water. Paul was reaching for the rock to climb back up and he felt his ring slip off into the water.

It was impossible to see anything in the deep water. There was a local man who lent Paul his snorkel so that he could go and look in the 3 meter deep water for the ring. Paul dove and searched and dove and searched to no avail. The man went and helped Paul look but the ring was not to be found on the rocky ocean bottom.

Paul was determined to not give up and so the next day we bought a snorkel and fins and returned to the swimming spot to renew our search. Paul successfully completed the mission on his first pass of the search pattern he had marked out by dropping small stones to to simulate the projected decent of the ring from the suspected point it left his hand.

PHOTO--Paul's victorious return to shore with the ring!

Monemvasia

Monemvasia is a big rock island which been a fortress since around 600 AD. There is only one entrance to the town and that is through an L-shaped gate. As you walk through the gate it is easy to lose 1,000 years. The stone streets with steps up the hills are narrow and do not allow for any type of motor vehicle--thus it's by foot only.

We stayed on the island in the original lower town where the shops where located and where the lower class lived. As everywhere in Greece there were many cats (cute, small, fat, thin, ugly, wild, mangy and tattered)--the first night we had dinner there, there were 10 cats all spread out sunning themselves on the roof below. Some of them would jump up and stand on the railing in front of us and meow for food--the more persistent actually jumped onto the chairs next to us and had to be shooed away.

We hiked to the top of the island--the entire thing is covered with ruins and cisterns. The opposite side of the island has 200+ foot sheer cliffs that drop straight into the ocean and were easily defendable.

Paul found the greatest gyros restaurant in Greece and proceeded to eat there at least once and sometimes twice a day. He is still searching Greece for a place to compare. We have discovered that the Greeks really love fries--they serve them with every meal and we mean every meal--Paul is not complaining about this!

One day we rented a scooter and drove around to some of the area beaches. On our last day there we watched the sun come up over the island as we waited for the bus.