Hey guys since I last talked to you I have left Nafplion, visited the city of Sparta, and made my way to Kalamata.

My second night in the car in Nafplion wound up not going nearly as smooth as the first one did. I just could not get comfortable in that thing, and I had drank some coffee pretty late in the evening, so I just could not fall asleep on Saturday night. So I basically laid around in the car all night and as the sun came up, I figured that I might as well get on the road to Sparta and knock out the 90 minute drive, hoping to be able to finagle an early check in at the hotel I had reserved there and pass out in a bed. I got really tired on the drive, but I did get to see some incredible scenery on the drive due to the great lighting from the sunrise.

Shortly after taking the above photo, I just couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore so I pulled over about a half hour from Sparta and passed out for 3 hours in the car. I didn’t have nearly as much problem falling asleep at that point, I was running on fumes.

After I woke up in the car, it was just a short drive into Sparta and to the hotel. I was pretty hungry upon arrival, so I grabbed some lunch at their restaurant before I even went to check out my room. It was a great meal, and really affordable. After eating that, I pretty much vegetated for the entire afternoon in my room. I was tired and it was too hot to do anything outside anyways!

Finally in the evening, I mustered up the energy to go take a short walk around town and see a few of the easily accessible sites, with plans to see ancient Sparta sites the next day with the car.

This morning, I made the most of the 12pm checkout and got somewhat caught up on my sleep. I hit up the hotel restaurant again after check out and ordered out an omelet, which turned out to be the biggest omelette I’ve ever seen. It wound up being the only real meal I had the whole day!

After the breakfast, I made the very short trek over the northern edge of the city, where the ancient Spartan settlement is located. It was scorching hot, but I still enjoyed seeing all the ancient rubble and the thought that I was standing on the same ground as the famous Spartans once lived on. Here are some scenes from ancient Sparta:

After checking out Sparta, I had planned on going to the Byzantium settlement of Mystras, which was only 10 minutes from Sparta and was on my way to my destination for the evening of Kalamata. I was having second thoughts because the heat was so brutal, but when I arrived there and saw there was a 12 euro entrance fee, the deal was sealed. I was content to get a nice view of it from the road and keep on trucking to Kalamata.

Upon arriving in Kalamata after the 90 minute drive, I found the guesthouse that I had booked for the night and was greeted by the incredibly friendly couple that runs the place, Dimitrios and Anita. They fed me homemade cake, cold water, coffee, melons, and even wanted to make me eggs (I politely declined the eggs after the omelette situation from this morning). Anita even offered to do my laundry, which I will never turn down when living with a limited supply of clothes! I gave them one of my CDs as a thank you for all the extra hospitality (since they refused to take any extra money), which led to them digging out the CD player and listening to the whole album right in front of me. To say they liked my music would be an understatement. After the album listening, I played them a couple live songs and then every 15 minutes or so they wanted more songs! I was content to sit there and visit with them and play music on the terrace, rather than worrying too much about being a tourist in Kalamata. I had been basically alone for the last 3 days and it was nice to interact with people, particularly locals!

I had come to Kalamata because I met a Greek guy when I was in Belgrade who told me that I should go there to busk for a good payday. Since it wasn’t too far off my route, I included it as a stop. Dimitrios showed me on the map where he thought the best place to play was, so I headed down there at about 830pm to get set up. The first place I picked was really good, but after about 20 minutes a woman came up to me raising all kinds of hell about me making too much noise and basically ordered me to leave. Mind you, this is on the public sidewalk of a loud and busy street with thousands of people walking and hundreds of cafes and cars making their own noise. I really didn’t appreciate the tone she took with me, so I had a few choice words for her about her approach. I’ll always move without issue if someone is nice about asking, but she was a real bitch about it! In the end, I moved a little further down the street, but this spot just never seemed as productive as where I initially set up. In the end, I made 44 euros in about 2 1/2 hours, which is really not too bad for a Monday. But I kind of had higher hopes for Kalamata.

One good thing about moving spots was meeting Zeus. Zeus owned a cafe near my second busking spot and came out to talk to me and tell me how much he was enjoying hearing my music. He invited me to pop in for a beer on him after I finished up. At about 1130, I was thinking to myself “one more song and I’m done”. I kicked into that song and about halfway through it the police rolled by and very politely told me it was time to wrap it up. Perfect timing for the police to shut me down! I stopped in and visited with Zeus and he wound up buying a CD. Heck of a nice guy!

As an aside, Kalamata is the southernmost place that I will be on this entire European journey. Everything from here on out will be to the North!

Tomorrow I’m off to Patra, which is 3 hours north and is the 3rd biggest city of Greece. I have 2 nights planned there. I’m slowly making my way back to Serande, Albania, where I am playing a show on August 31!

That’s all I have for tonight, talk to you guys soon.