It’s been a bit harder to get up today, we got up after 8… We enjoy the excellent breakfast in the Atrium hotel. Greek yoghourt is really tasty, but maybe too dense, I think it has its own gravity field around hehe…
We’ll left Athens about 10 o’clock. We are not visiting anything here today, as we decided to stop just to rest, so we’ll continue our route to visit the Peloponessus. It takes us about one hour and a half to reach Mycenae, and they take 8 euro in tolls, although the highway is excellent.
Here in Mycenae , we’ll see the Agamenon citadelle, built up between centuries XV and XII B.C, about 3500 years ago!
In Mycenae we want to see the citadel of Agamemnon, which was built between the 15th century and the 12th century before Christ, that’s about 3500 years ago! The citadel is a fortification built on a promontory near the town of Mycenae. This citadel was discovered in the late nineteenth century and although its state is totally ruinous there are some things worth seeing. Admission is 6 euros.
The entrance to the citadel or Lion’s Gate, still standing and in whose upper part there is a stone with two carved lions, of course the door is imposing.
After a walk, we´ll find the secret cistern. This is a cistern of water digged in the rock to which it is possible to be acceded by going down stairs with our mobile with the lantern on in hand. This cistern collected the water that supplied a small aqueduct that collected water from a spring. It is impressive to go down and notice the heat and humidity. We did not take a picture of this because there was no light.
We’ll continue the visit and we find the Tolos tombs. They are several circular chambers with vaulted ceilings, which were built as funerary chambers for kings. Unfortunately its domes collapsed but you can guess their size.
There are more things worth seeing, but what is mentioned is what I liked the most. But the royal tombs, the royal palace and the merchant houses are impressive when you think they were made more than 3000 years ago …
We’ll visit the museum, to see some sculptures stored here to preserve them, and finally we’ll get out from the citadel to get back 400 meters and see Treasury of Atreus, another Tolos grave but this time its roof still stands and the best, you can go inside to see it. It is quite clear that this is a real tomb, and in fact it is believed to be the tomb of Agamemnon. It overwhelms its size and the echo inside!
Treasury of Atreus’ door
In a eye blink it’s half past 1! We´ll get into the car and we are going to drive a bit to visit another archaeological site in Epidaurus: The ancient theater.
There really are more things in this sanctuary, dedicated to Asclepius, the god of healing. In this, it is believed that snakes were used to heal the sick (that’s why the snake is part of pharmacy logo).
Let’s focus, we came here to see the old theater. It dates from 330 BC and is so well preserved that it is still used for some representations (now less due to the reduction of state aid for cuts). It’s impressive, just see the photos.
Epidaurus’ ancient theater.
The rest of the site consists of the sanctuary of Asclepius and the temple of Asclepius, a stadium … although I say that everything is in ruins, do not expect to see something like the theater … Some buildings are being partially reconstructed, I suppose to make visitors see the dimensions of the buildings.
And we’re done! We leave for Nafplio, to eat something fast that we have already been late to eat and spend the afternoon walking through the center of the city, very nice and full of bars and shops. A very nice city. After our lunch we realize it smells really bad due to a cloud of whatever, coming from the other side of the bay, apparently a paper factory. I hope it’s not an usual thing here because it’s really disgusting.
Finally we go to the hotel Harmony Luxury Rooms, and to highlight the hospitality of our host that despite the man not speaking any English has managed to explain everything perfectly, he has accompanied us to the room to tell us everything so well!