More from Greece

We are still doing well in the southern Peloponnes Greece. We have spent a couple of days in a fantastic medieval village called Monemvasia. It is a big rock a few hundred meters off of the coast connected by a single causeway. You drive across the causeway and halfway around the island. That’s as far as cars can go. After that you walk through an archway gate and around a corner and you are all of a sudden in this beautiful village. We explored this village walking all around the little alleys and cobble stone paths. Above the village a cobblestone path switchbacks up the cliffs atop which you enter another archway. Through this archway is a ruined village from 1100. Most of it was completely ruined except for a gorgeous church which is in great shape.

We love just about everything about Greece and the Greek people except for 2 things. First everyone smokes everywhere. We have had waitresses smoking while serving; there are ash trays in the kitchen of restaurants, its everywhere! We really take the smoking ban in Boulder for granted. The other problem is the way that dogs are treated. There have been several cases of dogs being poisoned while we have been here. There is a young hound dog that Dilys likes a lot that lived in a house near the dumpster where we take our trash. The other day it was missing and Dilys was very worried. After a few days we saw her again but she was out of the gate and cowering more than I have ever seen a dog cower. It broke your heart, it was obvious that her owner kicked her out and beat the hell out of her to keep her away. Being a dog she was trying to go home. Dilys and Les brought her some food and today ended up bringing her home. She was very scared this morning and cowering, but she has been getting better all day. She is extremely sweet, especially considering that she has obviously been treated so bad! Hopefully she will be happy in her new home with Les and Dilys.

We will be here until Thursday when we will head to a town called Nafplio for a couple of days of sport climbing, then its up to Meteroa to climb towers and then Istanbul. More soon!