All settled in at Pylos!

I have finally reached my destination of Pylos, Greece, after a combined total of 28 hours of travel time, all of which on no sleep. But it is worth it. The flight to Athens was delayed an hour while we were on the plane and I had the great pleasure of sitting the row in front of a family of 5 kids, all under the age of 6. Who was right behind me? A screaming two-year-old, who, when he was not crying his eyes out, was pounding away at the back of my chair. At least he was cute. We came to a compromise by the end of the flight: I played with him and he stopped kicking my chair. 

On arriving in Athens, we boarded a charter bus that drove us to Pylos (on the west coast of the Peloponnese). While all of us were massively jet-lagged, no one could sleep on the 6 hour drive, the scenery was just too gorgeous.  

We curved around the edged of mountains, through tunnels and across massive expanses of olive groves. This place is beautiful. I tried to get as many pictures as one could through a tinted bus window.

We got to Pylos and settled into our rooms. Because of a rooming mixup, I got a double room all to myself, which I am not complaining about at all. It has a balcony that overlooks the bay, over which the sun sets. 

Can you get any better than this? Oh wait, I forgot it's a single room. It can get better. 

For dinner, we ate a four course meal at a tavern across the street under a canopy. There I got to know a lot of the people working on the dig with me. They all seem extremely nice and excited to have this opportunity. After dinner a few of us walked down to the town square (literally about 100 meters away) and watched part of the Mexico v. France soccer game at an outside pub. 

We have orientation and visit another archaeological excavation tomorrow, then on Saturday we get to start digging. I can't wait!