We knew it was going to rain, so it was no surprise when we woke up. The Weather Channel said severe rain, but it was a light drizzle. It might go off and on throughout the day, so I suggested we do laundry this morning and see what it looks like afterwards.
There is al laundry place nearby called Laundry Queen and it sat in between a bakery and a coffee shop. The laundry was fun excursion and we could have tasty treats and coffee while we waited.
It was already a late start so by the time laundry was done, it was barely raining so we decided to hit one of the ancient sites nearby, Dodoni, which is supposed to be a pretty significant site.
We hopped on the road and through a long as tunnel on the highway before popping out very close to the exit. When we arrive it had been sprinkling again, no big deal. There was a diorama of what it looked like in ancient times, the biggest part of it the acropolis was up on a hill which we hopped to see. The next largest structure was the ampitheather, which is still be worked on today. We walked around the corner from the ticket counter and there it was. Pretty impressive. The whole thing was blocked off so we couldn’t go climbing around on it, but it was pretty cool nonetheless. The rest of the site were a bunch of rocks piled up and in various building looking things with little plaques in fron that told you what they were. We’ve been to many sites where this is the case, so no big deal.
We looked around for a way up. To the acropolis, but couldn’t find one, so went back to the ticket gate and asked and they told us it had not been excavated yet and was still buried. Oh well.
We drove back to town now thinking lunch. The little island in the middle of the lake was known for quaint little cafes so we headed downtown to the lake where the boats ferried people across. We got a primo parking place and got on a boat right before it was headed out.
The ride across the lake was smooth and clear and it started sprinkling again. Boo this day.
We pulled up to the dock and walked into the only village on the island. It was full of terrible trinkets and one store sold bongs and plastic swords. The center of the village was hardly 50 feet from the dock and there was our desination, Cafe Menu, recommended by Ioannis from yesterday. We sat down and were served right away. One of the specialties on the island was frog legs so I just had to try them. They were pretty good and nothing like the ones we have in Missouri.
After lunch we walked around a bit, but not much, we really wanted to go back to town and check out the castle. It was after 4 by now so I’m sure everything is closed, but we must try. We sat around for a very long time before the next boat left and were swarmed by screaming children who were on some terrible field trip. Lucky for us they did not get on our boat and we pushed away and headed across the lake back to town.
Once we got back, there was a gate into the castle right by our car, so we strolled right in. The first site was the palace for the ruler of the city, which was pretty cool looking, but of course was closed.
We wound through the old city, very reminiscent of Rhodes, people lived inside and there were also hotels and a couple coffee shops.
We made our way through the tiny streets and walked up a hill to an open square, where there were a couple churches and a museum. The view from the top of the wall looked out over the lake and in the distance we saw our terrible hotel.
We wound back down the hill and back out a second gate which was on the wrong side of the castle. So we went into a third gate, and happened to walk past the It’s Kale hotel, where we were supposed to stay, but I changed my mind last minute, and that was a mistake, because it was very cute and much closer to the city than the Akti where were staying.
We made it out the other side, hopped in the car and went back to the hotel to rest before dinner.
Dinner was at the wonderful Epikero, a place I wanted to go all weekend but it was closed. A large group came in after we were seated, but they all went upstairs to drink beer and plan the revolution. the food was amazing and the owner very gracious.
Love a good diorama
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