June 1, 2014
On to the wine region of Mantinia, then to the Ioanian Sea
I woke up at 8 am. By staying in a hotel room directly above the town of Nafplio, there's a very efficient built in alarm clock called "the church bell." It unmistakably rang out right on time at 8 am. I opened my door to the spectacular view and took in the sights and sounds before heading up to the breakfast patio.
Darrell was already enjoying the oranges freshly picked from the hotel tree. I put together a plate with some Greek pastry specialties, toast and hotel made orange jam, and Greek yogurt with hotel made quince jam. I have to comment on the yogurt. I had very good Greek yogurt for breakfast the past two days. The yogurt here is so much smoother, creamier, and richer than the so called Greek yogurt made in the U.S. The yogurt this morning was absolutely the best yogurt I've ever had, Greek or otherwise. It was so soft, velvety and forever memorable.
After breakfast, it was time to pack, check out and head up to the limo van.
As we all gathered our luggage together, I got a glimpse of how much some of the animal life enjoys Nafplio. A very content mother cat was nursing her kittens next to our hotel on a concrete slab warmed by the morning sun.
We left Nafplio after breakfast on our way to the wine region of Mantinia. The morning sun lit the east facing mountains beautifully giving us wonderful views of the Larisa fortress castle as we passed by the town of Argos. We were on the road for a little over an hour before reaching Domiane Spiropoulos.
Domiane Spiropoulos is in the wine region of Mantinia. The Mantinia appellation is in the heart of the Peloponnese. The noble Greek white grape variety Moschofilero (pronounced mos-ko-fee-le-ro) is the focus Mantinia wine producers. The climate, well drained soil, and altitude leads to the production very aromatic and elegant white wine. We took a quick look at the grounds of Domiane Spiropoulos before going inside to see a number of regional producers preparing for our next tasting. We sat in the very comfortable lounge area while waiting for a short tour of Domiane Spiropoulos. Mr. Spiropoulos greeted us outside and spoke to us about his winery. Sofia translated as Mr. Spiropoulos spoke in Greek.
Here is a link to the Domiane Spiropoulos website - www.domainspiropoulos
After the tour, there were definitely some stand out notes taking shape about what we've seen so far in Greece relative to its wine production. Elements like "modern production facilities", "passion of land and wine culture", and "forward thinking towards the goal of continual improvement" seemed to all be very clearly present everywhere so far. Sofia handed out the tasting note sheets. It was time to get to work. Glasses in hand, we began to wade through the wines of this region.
We tasted close to 30 wines. Mainly Moschofilero, but also a few red wines and sparkling wines. The wines were all very good. The notion that the Greeks are making some of the best white wines around was beginning to cross my mind.
We were invited to lunch in another area of the winery after our tasting. Mrs. Spiropoulos prepared a fantastic lunch complete with a selection of fresh cheese, Greek salad, green salad, fresh bread, a moussaka type dish sans the filo, grilled meat, and some of the best potatoes I've ever had. The potatoes are a specialty of Mrs. Spiropoulos. She uses a local famous regional potato much like a Yukon gold. She soaks them in very good Greek tomato juice overnight, then roasts them in the over with salt, lemon juice, and olive oil. I couldn't get enough of them. This was now at the top of my list to recreate at home.
Young grape clusters among the big leaves of the Moschofilero vines.
We thanked the Spiropoulos family for their hospitality and delicious lunch, then gave our goodbyes and loaded up the limo van. Chef Mark found a friend in one of the vineyard dogs just before boarding, as seen in the beginning of the next video. Now it was back on the road for close to 2 hours. Destination: Ancient Olympia.
Just down the road from Domaine Spiropoulos, we drove past one of the more unique buildings found anywhere. The people of Mantinia are quite proud of this building, which was originally built as a church named the Ekklisia Agia Fotini . Building began in 1969 and was completed in 1978. Architect, painter and hagiographer Kostas Papatheodorou wanted to combine different styles from many religions including ancient Egyptian, ancient Greek, Byzantine, and traditional Greek-Orthodox. By doing this he created a bridge between the classical era and modern times, expressing the message of continuity and a reconciliation of religions. The architecture of the church has caused criticism, disagreement and conflict. There is a Heroes Garden to honor of all people of Mantinia who fought for their homeland in the courtyard of the church. To the west of the church there is the Jacob's Well, which symbolizes the meeting of Jesus with the Samaritan woman. The church and the grounds around it belong to the Mantinian Association. Today it is used for weddings and other ceremonies. The gate is never locked and can be visited at any time.
With a 2 hour drive time, we all felt like napping. Most of us did. I couldn't peel myself away from the scenery during the drive and snapped away at the photo ops instead.
We made it to Ancient Olympia by mid afternoon. We off loaded the limo van and walked into the Archaeological site where we were met by the guide that Sofia lined up for us.
The grounds leading into the Archaeological site are well cared for and simply beautiful. After receiving our tickets, we entered the site to explore. The site was first excavated by the French in 1829. Excavation continues today. The feeling while walking through the site is truly amazing. The thoughts of civilization here as far back as 3000 B.C. and that this is the site of the first ancient Olympic games during the 7th century B.C. were surreal. Walking through the athlete's tunnel then out to the ancient stadium was almost haunting in a very cool way.
The recently excavated mosaic unearthed from inside an Olympic training hall was stunning.
The ancient Olympic athlete's tunnel to the Olympic stadium
The experience of walking the Archaeological site of the place of the ancient Olympics was amazing. Now it was time to see the Ancient Olympia Museum, which is filled with artifacts unearthed during all of the excavations. The museum is filled with statues of all kinds. Most of the statues have been reassembled with little of know repair. The ones with some repair have only had a minimal amount of restoration done to preserve as much of the unearthed state as possible. The museum is truly breathtaking in its presentation and scope.
For more information about Ancient Olympia, click on the link to their website: Olympia-Greece.org
We made our way to the gift shop and snack area where a number of fresh Greek pastries were offered along with some food and drink. We stopped for a drink then loaded up the limo van and headed for to our hotel located about 40 minutes away just outside of the town of Skafidia on the Ionian coast.
When we reached the end of the paved road our driver took it off road. So now on a bumpy dirt road, we wondered where we would end up. We had no idea what the hotel for the night was going to be like. After a few big bumps and a couples of turns, we found ourselves in front of a very appealing sign marked " Mare Dei Ionian Resort."
Here is a link to the Mare Dei Ionian Resort website - http://www.maredei.gr/en/resort/
We walked into the lobby area with our luggage and were greeted by staff. We were each given a delicious glass of berry juice, which we sipped on the lobby patio overlooking the Ionian sea while waiting to check in. The views were spectacular. The multilevel grounds with infinity pool, exceptional accommodations, and private beach are truly 4 star, if not 5!
After checking into our rooms, we had a good two hours of free time before dinner. Garrett, Zachary, Mark, and I headed down to the private beach. I was tempted to jump is for a swim, as they did, but I decided to shoot some video and pictures instead. After I got my fill of visual content, I did a little beach combing for some sea shells to take home.
After a solid hour of successful beach combing, I went to my room to shower and change before dinner. We gathered on the lobby patio for a bit to see the amazingly beautiful sunset. The island of Zakynthos is easily seen off the coast just west of the hotel, as is the island of Cephalonia off to the north west. The view of Mt Ainos rising 5341 ft above the Ionian sea on Cephalonia appears more like a volcano than a mountain range because of the angle from the hotel.
Suffering a bit of visual sensory overload, we hopped in the limo van and headed to the town of Katakolo. Only a short 10 minute drive away from the Mare Dei Resort, we pulled into the Vriniotis Hotel Restaurant Bar for dinner. The restaurant provides both indoor and outdoor seating. We were seated outdoors on a patio overlooking the beach below, cliffs off to the north, and a small island about 2500 ft off the beach. The sun had already set casting a spectacular fiery glow through the clouds above the cliffs. Vasilis Kanellakopoulos, the managing director of Mecouri Estate S.A. joined us for dinner and brought along a couple of his wines. Mecouri Estate S.A. is located directly in between the restaurant and the Mare Dei Resort on the coast. It would be our first stop for tour an a major regional wine tasting in the morning. Dinner consisted of very fresh Greek salad, rustic bread, appetizers of lamb meatballs called "Keftethes", cheese filled filo pastry, fresh local fried fish, and a fresh fruit and cheese platter with an entree of our own choosing. I had their rendition of beef hamburger, which was not American style. It was patty style with potato fries.
Here is a link to the Vriniotis Hotel Restaurant Bar website - www.vriniotis restaurant
Dinner was so satisfying and very relaxing. We were graced with a wonderful view and the sounds of the sea waves crashing below. Vasilis was a perfect dinner guest. He was filled with wonderful conversation ranging from all things Greece and Greek wine production to old feature films shot in Greece. Darkness quickly fell. The beach below, dotted with its cabana umbrellas and chaise lounge chairs, looked very tempting, but it was time to go back to the Mare Dei for a good night's sleep.
