9/29 Saturday---Nafplion to Athens to MILAN

Left Nafplion by bus early, then Metro to Athens airport. Ran into Pierre from Montreal for about the 4th time. He was picking up his girlfriend at the airport. We booked EasyJet. Check-in and gate confusion took most of extra time that we had---one person checking in a couple hundred travelers, then most of us were sent to wrong gate at opposite ends of airport. EasyJet ran very well out of Gatwick to Athens.

Met an Italian on the bus from the airport who was very helpful. He was born and raised in Milan and was coming home to visit his mother. He lives in Switzerland now. He led us to the street where our hotel was booked, however, the Hotel Mediolanum sent us to the Sanpi hotel, about a 10 minute walk from the other hotel, late at night in a strange city. Very odd. The hotel was quite nice. It was a good buy for $127 in a big city. They wanted 135 Euro (ca. $192) for the next night, so we decided to go to Nice.

Since it was late and we had walked quite a ways, we didn't want to walk too far to find something to eat. The first restaurant we came to was at the end of the block (almost right across the street) from the hotel. It was small and busy. They had a table about 10 feet inside the door that was tiered and piled high with all sorts of lovely fruits, desserts, hors d'oeuvres, and who know what else. It was probably the prettiest and most romantic spread I've ever seen. We walked a few feet past, and then decided to go back and check the menu. We decided to wait for a table (about 5 minutes). Waiters were scurrying and carrying plates of food, wine, water, and dishing up from the magnificent table of food. We could see people cooking in the kitchen, using pans that look like they had been around for 50 years and used on a daily basis. We sat at a small table close to another small table. The couple there were from Australia and had been cycling for a bout 4 weeks all over Europe. They were headed home the following day---a 24 hour plane ride. Ugh! Shortly we were served a delicious appetizer from the table and then another. Our wine came in a decorated pottery pitcher and was the best since leaving home. Greece did not offer up any good house wines. We had a basket of lovely fresh bread and our pasta dishes were heavenly. Il Carpaccio was the name of the restaurant and if you ever get to Milan, make a point of going there.