Ancient Greece 8th to 10th May

Wednesday 8^th May, Mycenae and Nafplio

We were on the road early heading for yet another ancient Greek site Mycenae.  It was an overcast morning so it was looking good for sight-seeing.  When we arrived Jacqui decided after looking at a lot of scattered stones on a hillside that she would miss this one out and Mike set off on his own.  It is believed that the site was occupied from 1950BC to 1100BC.  It was excavated by a German archaeologist Heinrich Schlieman in 1874.  The site is entered via the Lion Gate and contains the remains of tombs, palaces, merchants’ houses and other dwellings. Mike has always had an interest in Greek mythology and spent about 2 hours there whilst Jacqui spent time organising our photo files as well as doing some Keele work.  This site was where Agamemnon and his followers were murdered on their triumphant return from Troy. Once Mike returned we had lunch and then set off for Nafplio.

  

Nafplio was a lovely place. It has a large harbour where we could comfortably park the van. Nafplio’s main claim to fame was that it was once the first capital of Greece. It contained three forts, one in the sea at the entrance to the harbour: Bourtzi, the Acronafplia, which was only a ruin and the Palamidhi. To reach the latter the guide book recommended getting a taxi to the top and then walking down the 999 steps.  Of course, in the melting sun, we walked both up and down! On the way down a massive thunderstorm unleashed heavy rain but it literally stopped 50 yards in front of us. Jacqui was really hoping she would get soaked to cool herself down but it was not to be so we went for an iced coffee, known locally as ‘freddo’ or ‘freddocino’ in one of the cafes in a very pretty street that was decked throughout with vibrant pink bougainvillae. Not content with walking up a big hill we then set off to walk a coastal route that took us right round the town. It was very pretty. Later on that evening we went to one of the tavernas at the harbour ( Jacqui was too tired to cook) and had a beer and pork gyros (Jacqui) and fish and chips (Mike).  We went to bed feeling very full.

Thursday 9^th May Epidaurus

We left Nafplio after attending to some e mails and visiting the ruined fortress. We then set the Sat Nav for Epidaurus – yet another ancient site.  Greece does have a lot of them!  Epidaurus was a major religious centre and healing Spa around 400BC.  Primarily it was dedicated to Asclepius the God of healing and people would travel many miles to be cleansed, give sacrifice and worship their gods and hope to be cured. This normally happened after they fell asleep where they would then dream of the God visiting them.  When they awoke they were cured.  Jacqui was a bit cynical about one of the miracles of a women who could not have children. When she slept she dreamt that the God ‘visited’ her and 9 months later she had a child with her husband. (No DNA testing then!).  The site is also famous for its well preserved 14000 seated theatre. It is reported to have been built with great mathematical precision and to have excellent acoustics. We tried this out.  Mike went up to the top row (54) and Jacqui dropped a coin in the centre.  We think there was too much background noise or maybe age has destroyed the acoustics but Mike could not hear anything.

Two hours later we were back in the van which thankfully we had parked in the shade (another 30C plus day). We had lunch and then set off on a scenic route towards Corinth and were rewarded with some impressive views as a thunderstorm swept across the bay. We ended up camping just a few metres from the Corinth Canal. We spent the evening watching pilot boats and tugs escort mainly tankers through the narrow canal. What was more fascinating though was watching the road bridge disappear under water every time a ship needed to pass.

Friday 10^th May, Corinth

A bad start to the day. It had rained heavily in the night but Mike could also smell urine which was keeping him awake. It turned out that the loo had been leaking into the cupboard under the bed. We spent the first part of the morning clearing out and bleaching everything while Mike tried to think of a solution to the problem. It came down to “Duck tape” again. Mike seals around the toilet and the compartment that holds the toilet cassette to create a water tight seal. So far this is working well. Having re-packed everything we then set off for the ancient site of Corinth. As we approached we could see the fortress high on the hill. We were able to drive the van right up and were rewarded with wonderful views over Corinth, the surrounding countryside, across towards the northern mainland of Greece and down to the sea. The fortress was very imposing. The walls and entrances were still in good order but the rest, excluding a rebuilt church were in ruins. After a thorough exploration we decided to move back down to the town to the site of ancient Corinth here there is a Roman Agora but the main focus in the 5C BC Temple of Apollo. This is an important building becasue it still has standing 7 huge (575m) Doric columns. The site also housed a small but very interesting museum. We could only spend an hour here as the whole site closed down at 3pm.

Back in the van we continued our drive back to the coast, crossing the Corinth canal and stopping at a beach in a small town called Kineta. With permission we parked opposite a closed bar and set ourselves up for the night.