The Frenchies

I suppose the next leg of my trip should be titled "Les indomptables de Peloponnese" which roughly translates to "The extremely French bicyclists with whom I traveled the pointy bits of Southern Greece."

On the mainland, I met Jean and Cecile in ancient Olympia, site of the first Olympic games. The original events were merely shotput, discus, and freeze tag (at which Medusa was the perennial favorite). It was also home to the Temple of Zeus, one of the seven (suspiciously eurocentric) wonders of the ancient world. For the next 10 days, I would ride three times as far as them, seeing side towns and such, and we would end up in the same place to camp together. I got the better deal, as they also did most of the cooking. I eat at restaurants most days, but rain or shine they use their wood campstove to craft an impressively intricate meal. They aren't pretentious at all, as the French are often stereotyped. But when it comes to food, they are, Frankly, caricatures.

For example:

Cecile: "What's the English word for tartine?

Me: "There is none, it's just stuff on bread."

Cecile: "Then I'm done with English, I don't want to speak a language that 'as no word for tartine."

Or there's the time I asked what they missed most about home, and you'd swear that all color and joy was drained from the world as if a dementor approached. Their eyes glazed over as they lamented: "raclette..."

The Mani Peninsula, comprising the southernmost point of continental Europe, has been one of my favorite places in Greece. Though perhaps no longer remote, it is still rugged and removed. The jagged peaks and wind-battered coastline are dotted with the stone tower houses that the Maniots have lived in for centuries. Direct descendants of the Spartans, they have generally resisted all foreign occupiers, and apparently have a tendancy to blood feud amongst themselves when there is nobody else around.

I also visited Sparta, now just a small town. One wonders if Leonidas would have fought so hard had he known his descendants would be wearing uggs and sipping pumpkin spice lattes.