Today Edith and I wanted to clarify what we need to do for tomorrow at the New Port of Patras. We know that the ferry to Venice was leaving at midnight and that we had to be on board before 10pm. We still needed to check in and know exactly where to go. Edith had to get ready for work tonight …. so I was volunteered to walk over to the New Port (3.5K) and attempt to check in and get our tickets. Once I found the ferry company office, they quickly told me that we cannot check in or get our tickets until Friday after 11:30am.

Thus with no tickets only information, I proceeded to explore 3 ancient archeology sites here in Patras, The Roman Stadium, The Roman Odeon and the Patras Castle.

The Roman Odeon (Ancient Greek: ᾨδεῖον. “singing place”) is the name for several ancient Greek and Roman buildings built for musical activities such as singing, musical shows, and poetry competitions. Odeons were smaller than Greek and Roman theatres.

The Roman Odeum is located on the west side of Patra. It was built before the Odeum of Athens in front of which stands the statue of Apollo. The Odeum of Patra was severely destroyed by successive invasions, wars, and earthquakes. It was almost buried under the remains of other buildings and ground. It was in 1889 when the Odeum was found by accident while some workers were digging up the ground for the construction of the port.

The restoration of the Odeum continued till 1956 when it regained its original shape. Along with its restoration process, the nearby areas were declared as archaeological sites. The Roman Odeum today functions as the chief venue for Patras International Festival held every summer and other cultural events. The Odeum has a seating capacity of 2,300 people with all the basic facilities of a theatre such as hollow, orchestra, proscenium, scene and wings.

The Roman stadium is located in central Patras. The stadium (three sided) was used for sporting events (as in foot races/ Olympic (?)) vs Colosseum (gladiator). The monument has not been fully unveiled and the gradual expropriation of the site is expected to complete the systematic excavation. It was built in the 1st century AD during the reign of Emperor Domitian, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Roman colony in 14 AD, i.e. around 86 AD. The stadium has an elongated shape and has two petals or slings. Its dimensions are estimated at 200 m long and 90 m wide.

The Patras Fortress (Greek: Κάστρο Πατρών) was built around the mid-6th century A.D above the ruins of the ancient acropolis of the city of Patras, on a low outlying hill of the Panachaiko Mountain and ca. 800 m from the sea. The castle covers 22,725 m² and consists of a triangular outer wall, strengthened by towers and gates and further protected originally by a moat, and an inner compound on the northeastern corner, also protected by a moat.

The first castle on the spot was built by Byzantine emperor Justinian I after the catastrophic earthquake of 551, re-using building material from pre-Christian structures. One of these spolia, the torso and head of a marble Roman statue, became part of the city’s folklore, a sort of genius loci. It is known as the “Patrinella“, a maiden who is supposed to have been transformed into a man during Ottoman times, guards the city against disease and weeps whenever a prominent citizen of Patras dies.

The fort remained in constant use thereafter, even until the Second World War. In the Byzantine period, it was besieged by Slavs, Saracens, Normans and many others, but it never fell. In particular, the successful repulsion of a great siege of 805 AD by the Arabs and the Slavs was attributed to the city’s patron saint, St Andrew.

In 1205, in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, it was taken over by the Franks, who strengthened it further, opening a moat on all three sides. In 1278, the Principality of Achaea pawned it to the local Latin (Catholic) Archbishop, while the Pope leased it to the Venetians for five years in 1408. The Latin Archbishop remained in possession of the castle until 1430, when it was taken by the Despot of the Morea and future last Byzantine emperor, Constantine Palaiologos, who made extensive repairs to its walls. The castle fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1458, and remained one of their main seats of power in the Peloponnese throughout the Tourkokratia. The Venetians took the castle in 1687 during the Morean War, and kept it until the Morea was retaken by the Turks in 1715.

Following independence, the castle remained in use by the Greek Army until after World War II. In 1973, the castle was turned over to the 6th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities. It is used nowadays for cultural events, especially during summer, and features a theatre with a capacity of 640 seats. *Wikipedia (had to copy and paste because history is complete)

So going against cautions from our Moroccan tour guides…. I took a bite out of a “bitter orange” or Seville orange or sour orange! Needless to say, the taste was very sour, so much acid that for at least an hour my tongue and lips were stinging!!

And again: street art caught my attention; this time in Patras! See yourself:

Many surprises awaited us in Patras! It is not only the main harbor for all ferries from Italy, it is also a beautiful city with lots of history! Our Airbnb is at the old harbor in downtown / oldtown Patras. Extremely convenient to walk everywhere; breakfast, lunch, dinner, markets, stores, people watching, everything! We discovered the Orthodox Church of St. Andrew, where they keep the relics of a piece of the cross he died at, a part of his finger and a piece of his scull. The cross we found, then we stopped searching; I really didn’t want to see any bones…

It is December now and there are Christmas decorations everywhere! Street musicians play Christmas music, people are out buying presents – I love it!

And the food is a surprise too! As usual, we always try to eat local food, Moroccan food in Morocco, Greek food in Greece, etc. of course there is Eataly, there are burger places and Indian restaurants, but we can eat all this when we are back home. Here we want Greek stuff! So last night Ted found a Greek restaurant on the Internet, but when we found it, it looked closed. But a sign pointed around the corner and a stairway had another sign upwards. So we walked upstairs to the 4th floor rooftop terrace, where a Greek party was in full swing. We sat down, ordered Retsina and octopus, Kebap and Greek salad. Then they moved us 3 floors below, where we ate. The waitress told us that the restaurant used to have 3 floors, but now they’re reduced to only 2 floors, the 1st and the 4th floor. The street level is still closed…