Athens – Nafplion
Temperature: 30+
Weather: Sunny
Today we started our tour! After collecting our fellow travellers we realised we are a lovely group size of fifteen. This will be the same size as our group in Turkey.
Our first stop was the Corinth Canal which was begun two thousand years ago by Nero. It joins the Ionian and Aegean Seas and is a massive canal. It was completed in 1893.
We motored our way past large areas of olive and citrus trees towards Mycenae to the Mycenae Archaeological Museum which opened in 2004. This was our history lesson before we embarked on the ancient site which was unearthed in the 1800’s. This find verified Homer’s writings. The large Lion Gate stands impressively at the entrance of the site and we wondered how they managed to get the large rocks in place! Another mystery like Stonehenge!
En route to the Treasure of Atreus we passed the oldest piece of infrastructure in Europe: the Mycenaean Bridge. It was used up until the 20th century and it is not big but a very solid structure.
It was once again a hot day and we stood in the shade of the tunnel of the next site: The Treasury of Atreus for our history lesson from our leader Kostos. It is a tomb made in the shape of a beehive and is 14 metres high and has a circumference of much the same diameter. It is all underground and was once used by local farmers to house their livestock. It’s obviously made of stern stuff….large rocks actually!
We all dozed off a little after many hours in the sun as we passed through the Mycenaean country side. Our next stop was Epidaurus to see old site where Aesclepius (god of healing) is said to have performed all his healings. It is a large rambling area with many ruins on the ground. The Temple of Tholos was unearthed 100 years ago and has suffered more damage in that time than the 2000 years it lay dormant and not exposed to the elements due to limestone being its base material.
A lovely drive to Nafplion and a stop in the delightful centre of town was a lovely finish to the day.
Photos: The Corinth Canal; The Mycanaean Acropolis with Desley, David and Cameron; The Treasury of Atreus; the Epidaurus Theatre and the Mycenaean Bridge.
No comments:
Post a Comment