This morning began our tour of the Peloponnese. We got up
early and headed out. It’s about an hour and a half drive to Mycenae, our first
stop of the day. Metis didn’t have anything with the name Mycenae, nor did
the other major spelling show up in the search. But, I searched in the area of
the map and found it. I hoped. We to get gas on the way, and we got some cocoa
and chocolate croissants at the gas station coffee shop. Well, Max got coffee,
Emma & I got cocoa. I added my caffeinated cocoa packet, and we were good
to go.
We saw lots more abandoned stuff on the way out.
We somehow managed to pass over the Corinth Canal without
even noticing, which made me sad. Oh, well, though, we needed to pass over it
again to get back out of the Peloponnese, so no biggie. We passed the exit for
Ancient Nemea, but decided against going.
We weren’t sure how much time it would take, nor did we know if there was anything to see there or not. So, it was on to Mycenae. Since Metis had been unsure about the area, we followed the road signs. Then, they stopped. Luckily, Metis was able to get us the rest of the way.
We met an old Australian man who I thought at first was a tour guide. But, it turns out he just knew a lot about the place. He kind of latched onto us for a little while. Em found that there were about a bajillion grasshoppers, or locusts, or something on the plants.
She had fun playing with them.
We then went down the street to the Treasury of Atreus, which was the tomb of Agamemnon. It was a marvel of construction at the time, as domes were a pretty amazing thing to make.
We saw lots more abandoned stuff on the way out.
We weren’t sure how much time it would take, nor did we know if there was anything to see there or not. So, it was on to Mycenae. Since Metis had been unsure about the area, we followed the road signs. Then, they stopped. Luckily, Metis was able to get us the rest of the way.
We got there just as it opened, which was awesome. There
were a couple of tour groups in the parking lot, but we barely noticed them. We
went into the museum first, because that’s how I like to do it. We saw the Mask
of Agamemnon (actually a replica, the real one is in Athens)
and a bunch of other stuff that was found in Mycenae.
Then, we went to the site. It was pretty cool. You hear so much about Mycenaean things, and we got to see the actual Mycenae. Mycenae was built between 1350 and 1200 BC. Mycenae was the home of Agamemnon and Clytmenestra, brother-in-law and sister of Helen of Troy.
and a bunch of other stuff that was found in Mycenae.
Then, we went to the site. It was pretty cool. You hear so much about Mycenaean things, and we got to see the actual Mycenae. Mycenae was built between 1350 and 1200 BC. Mycenae was the home of Agamemnon and Clytmenestra, brother-in-law and sister of Helen of Troy.
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| The Lion Gate |
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| The granary and grave circles |
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| The grave circles, where the Mask of Agamemnon was found |
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| The underground cistern |
We met an old Australian man who I thought at first was a tour guide. But, it turns out he just knew a lot about the place. He kind of latched onto us for a little while. Em found that there were about a bajillion grasshoppers, or locusts, or something on the plants.
She had fun playing with them.
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| grasshoppers |
We then went down the street to the Treasury of Atreus, which was the tomb of Agamemnon. It was a marvel of construction at the time, as domes were a pretty amazing thing to make.
I had allowed several hours for Mycenae, because I really
had no idea how much time it would take. My guide book is arranged in tours, so
some said that it would take 3 hours, some said half a day. Since we had so
much to see, I had to make a schedule. Well, it only took about an hour to see,
so we were way ahead.
We next drove over to Epidavros to see the theater. I saw
several wonderful churches and roadside shrines on the way.
I didn’t know that Epidavros had anything but the famous theater, but I had bought a book at Mycenae about all of the local sites, and it turns out that there is a lot more. It was a very famous Asklepieion, a center of healing.
Asklepios was worshiped as a god of medicine there. He had sacred snakes that were said to cure a body part simply by touching their tongues to it.
I didn’t know that Epidavros had anything but the famous theater, but I had bought a book at Mycenae about all of the local sites, and it turns out that there is a lot more. It was a very famous Asklepieion, a center of healing.
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| Ancient medical tools |
Asklepios was worshiped as a god of medicine there. He had sacred snakes that were said to cure a body part simply by touching their tongues to it.
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| Asklepios |
We looked in the museum first.
We didn’t do the whole site, because I knew we were going to see lots of ancient sites, and I didn’t want Em to be bored by the later ones.
We also thought that the fortress at Nafplio would be more exciting, so we wanted to spend more time there. We had seen it on the way to Epidavros. But, we did look through the museum and go up to the theater. The theater is one of the best preserved ancient Greek theaters in the world. It’s huge.
There’s a spot where you’re supposed to be able to stand and talk normally, and have the whole theater hear you. We tried it, but there was too much other noise for it to work well. The place was filled with tourist groups.
We walked back past the gift shop, where they had slide sets for sale! Slides? Really? Em had no idea what they even were.
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| Note the snakes |
We didn’t do the whole site, because I knew we were going to see lots of ancient sites, and I didn’t want Em to be bored by the later ones.
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| I just thought these ladies were pretty |
We also thought that the fortress at Nafplio would be more exciting, so we wanted to spend more time there. We had seen it on the way to Epidavros. But, we did look through the museum and go up to the theater. The theater is one of the best preserved ancient Greek theaters in the world. It’s huge.
There’s a spot where you’re supposed to be able to stand and talk normally, and have the whole theater hear you. We tried it, but there was too much other noise for it to work well. The place was filled with tourist groups.
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| I didn't know that there were backs on the seats in the front row |
We walked back past the gift shop, where they had slide sets for sale! Slides? Really? Em had no idea what they even were.
We didn’t see anywhere to eat lunch in Epidavros, and Max
was starving, so we would have needed to stop at Nafplio anyway, even if we
didn’t want to see the fortress.
So, lunch first. We found a little café with
outdoor seating (every café has outdoor seating, actually. I don’t think we ate
in an actual room the whole time we were here. Covered porches, yes, but no
actual rooms) and had our first Greek food of the trip. Gyros, yum! Then, we
walked around the old town a bit. Nafplio is a very pretty town, some say the
prettiest in Greece. The Old Town is very Venetian looking.
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| That's a Netherlands plate. 29 hours, according to Google Maps. |
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| I think this one looks like it's from Pirates of the Caribbean |
I had seen in my book that there are two hill fortresses in
Nafplio, as well as one in the bay.
One is on a very, very high hill and requires walking up several hundred steps. Plus, it has an entrance fee. The other has an elevator from Old Town, and is free. We chose the free one. We couldn’t find the elevator, though. My book had said it was of blah blah street. I didn’t remember the street name, and the elevator wasn’t on my map. I thought it would be easy enough to find, but no. We finally asked, and found it was all the way at the other end. So, we walked that way. We finally found it. When we got up to the top, we were the only people there. There were a couple of gardeners, but no visitors. Pretty soon, even the gardeners were gone. We walked around on paths that looked like they hadn’t been used in ages. It was fun, it felt like we were discovering these places for the first time.
This fortress was mostly
ruins, whereas the other one was kept up. I think I liked this one more than I
would have the other one.
One is on a very, very high hill and requires walking up several hundred steps. Plus, it has an entrance fee. The other has an elevator from Old Town, and is free. We chose the free one. We couldn’t find the elevator, though. My book had said it was of blah blah street. I didn’t remember the street name, and the elevator wasn’t on my map. I thought it would be easy enough to find, but no. We finally asked, and found it was all the way at the other end. So, we walked that way. We finally found it. When we got up to the top, we were the only people there. There were a couple of gardeners, but no visitors. Pretty soon, even the gardeners were gone. We walked around on paths that looked like they hadn’t been used in ages. It was fun, it felt like we were discovering these places for the first time.
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| The view from our fortress. You can see the big fortress on the other hill |
We made our way back down the hill towards our car.
We stopped off for some gelato and bottles of water on the way. Then, it was off to Monemvassia, our stop for the night.
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| Pretty church |
We stopped off for some gelato and bottles of water on the way. Then, it was off to Monemvassia, our stop for the night.
On the way, we ran through Argos. My brother Jason got me a
blue canary nightlight, like the one in the TMBG song “Birdhouse in Your Soul.”
In the song, it says, “There’s a picture opposite me, of my primitive ancestry,
which stood on rocky shores and kept the beaches shipwreck free. Though I
respect that a lot, I’d be fired if that were my job, after killing Jason off,
and countless screaming Argonauts” So, we thought the blue canary (We named him
Flansnell) might like to see from whence Jason and the Argonauts came. We
didn’t have time to stop there, but I got some pictures. When I get home, I’m
going to post the best one to the TMBG Tumblr.
That was just a small detour on the way to Monemvassia.
The drive was mostly uneventful. I hadn’t realized just how mountainous Greece is. I knew the Peloponnese was rough, but wow. Olive trees on hillsides as far as the eye could see.
Off in the distance were really tall, snowy mountains.
I had no idea. Oh, and everything was rocky. Really, really rocky. There were also a bunch of sheep and their shepherds. They all had crooks, too, it was great! Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture of them, because we sped by too quickly. We stopped many, many times to take pictures.
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| A church I like |
The drive was mostly uneventful. I hadn’t realized just how mountainous Greece is. I knew the Peloponnese was rough, but wow. Olive trees on hillsides as far as the eye could see.
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| Olives |
Off in the distance were really tall, snowy mountains.
I had no idea. Oh, and everything was rocky. Really, really rocky. There were also a bunch of sheep and their shepherds. They all had crooks, too, it was great! Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture of them, because we sped by too quickly. We stopped many, many times to take pictures.
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| This dude was seriously in the middle of nowhere |
I knew we went near Sparta on our way to Monemvassia, but I
hadn’t realized that we went through it. Em desperately wanted to stop in
Sparta and get a picture. Since we passed through it, we stopped at the sign.
Since we were there anyway, we decided to see if we could find the Leonidas statue. The original plan was to see it tomorrow, but since we were here, we might as well save the time tomorrow. I chose what seemed like it might be the statue, and it was! Woo hoo! We got some pictures.
Near the statue, there was a fence with Spartan shields as decorative motifs, and Em was able to stand behind one and “kick” Max into a pit.
It was also nice to get a bit of a break, since from Nafplio to Monemvassia was about 4 hours.
Since we were there anyway, we decided to see if we could find the Leonidas statue. The original plan was to see it tomorrow, but since we were here, we might as well save the time tomorrow. I chose what seemed like it might be the statue, and it was! Woo hoo! We got some pictures.
Near the statue, there was a fence with Spartan shields as decorative motifs, and Em was able to stand behind one and “kick” Max into a pit.
It was also nice to get a bit of a break, since from Nafplio to Monemvassia was about 4 hours.
Continuing on to Monemvassia. We stopped a few more times to
take pictures of things, but there were no more major detours.
We did follow a sign once that said the road led to an archeological site, but nothing came of it except Metis giving up on us. She had been telling us where to turn, but she finally just said, “Continue to Monemvassia.” Luckily, it was only one road, but up until that point, she had still been telling us the name of the road. No longer. Just drive, dammit.
We came into Monemvassia and saw the island. It's pretty spectacular. Now, Monemvassia has two parts. The medieval town out on the island, and the new town on the mainland. We're staying in the new town, and will head out to the island tomorrow. There are hotels on the island, but they're a lot more expensive. That, and there are no cars in the town, so we'd have to haul luggage through small, winding, cobblestoned streets. No, thanks!
The new town is two main roads that run in basically the same direction, but there are several small ones in between. The main main road is called Monemvassia. Clever. Metis didn't have our hotel, but the map on the tablet did. It showed it clear as day, right by the beach. We went there, but the hotel wasn't there. Nor was it anywhere on that road. We checked. Several times. Max asked. People had no idea. We drove all around the little roads, and still couldn't find it. Finally, somebody in a hardware store knew where it was. Go up, turn right, it's above the small grocery store. We found it. We had driven right past it, but the sign was in Greek, with the non-Greek alphabet translation in pretty small letters underneath. We found the parking and hauled our stuff in. The man was very nice, and upgraded us for free to the family room with a view.
The room is lovely, and does indeed have a beautiful view of the island. It has a little balcony and a kitchenette.
After a potty break, we needed some dinner. Em put on her swimsuit, but we decided to get dinner first, so she wasn't all wet to sit in a restaurant. I checked Em's ankle, which she said was bothering her, and it had a fair-sized lump, so we thought we'd look for a pharmacy while we were out, to find an ace bandage. We walked over to the harbor, where the hotel booklet said the restaurants were. On the way, we did find a pharmacy. They had little disposable ace bandages for a euro each, so we bought 5.
We found the first one and sat down outside. The lady (I think she was the owner) came to take our order. We had said that we would try octopus while we were there, so Max ordered that for the appetizer. The owner said she could give us octopus, but it wasn't good. It's not fresh right now, it's frozen, so she didn't want to serve it. No worries for me, that means I don't have to try octopus. I can try frozen octopus anywhere, we were only going to get fresh in Greece because everybody says to. I was dreading it, anyway. One worry gone. I did, however, try the olives she brought to the table. It was an olive variety. I've tried and spit out olives in the past, but Max was saying how good they were, so I tried one. You have to eat an olive in Greece, no? It was horrible. It tasted like doctor's office. He conceded that perhaps the little black ones weren't the best. I tried a big green one. I thought it tasted just the same, like I had a big gulp of rubbing alcohol and scab, but this one was bigger, so it took longer to get through it. I didn't want to be the rude American and spit it out. So, I powered through, as my tongue tried in vain to get away from the olive; and my throat just tried to swallow it without rejecting it. But, I then had two olive pits on my plate, so I was triumphant. By then, we had table bread and a wonderful hummus that was so garlicky it made my eyes water and burned all of the olive out of my mouth, so I was good to go.
Dinner was spectacular. I had the best pork souvlaki I've ever had. Since I can't stand seafood, souvlaki is pretty much my go-to Greek meal, so I've had a fair amount. This was amazing. Max had fresh shrimp that was still whole - eyes and everything. They were huge, too. Mega shrimp.
He said they tasted like lobster. We finished our dinner and pocketed the rest of the table bread. Em fed her souvlaki fatty bits to the cats in the parking lot.
By now, it was dark, and Em didn't want to go in the water. She was a bit scarred by our adventure in the Red Sea when she saw the jellyfish, and wasn't about to swim in water she couldn't see. We did all take off our shoes and step in, though. We all wished we had taken off our shoes a bit closer to the shore, because though the rocks were smooth, they were still small enough to feel like a million little knuckles digging into the soles of our feet.
A short walk found us back at the hotel, again exhausted and ready for bed.
Emma says - There was a lot of driving today, too. I liked that Australian guy, he was nice. My ankle hurt today because I twisted it yesterday, but I didn't complain! Mycenae was really pretty. It was neat to be where I had read about so much history. I loved having the fort to ourselves in Nafplio. Dinner was amazing! I loved it. There were too many fatty bits, though, but I enjoyed feeding them to the cats in the parking lot.
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| A bunch of the mountain homes had chimney caps shaped like birds |
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| Another pretty church |
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| And another |
We did follow a sign once that said the road led to an archeological site, but nothing came of it except Metis giving up on us. She had been telling us where to turn, but she finally just said, “Continue to Monemvassia.” Luckily, it was only one road, but up until that point, she had still been telling us the name of the road. No longer. Just drive, dammit.
We came into Monemvassia and saw the island. It's pretty spectacular. Now, Monemvassia has two parts. The medieval town out on the island, and the new town on the mainland. We're staying in the new town, and will head out to the island tomorrow. There are hotels on the island, but they're a lot more expensive. That, and there are no cars in the town, so we'd have to haul luggage through small, winding, cobblestoned streets. No, thanks!
The new town is two main roads that run in basically the same direction, but there are several small ones in between. The main main road is called Monemvassia. Clever. Metis didn't have our hotel, but the map on the tablet did. It showed it clear as day, right by the beach. We went there, but the hotel wasn't there. Nor was it anywhere on that road. We checked. Several times. Max asked. People had no idea. We drove all around the little roads, and still couldn't find it. Finally, somebody in a hardware store knew where it was. Go up, turn right, it's above the small grocery store. We found it. We had driven right past it, but the sign was in Greek, with the non-Greek alphabet translation in pretty small letters underneath. We found the parking and hauled our stuff in. The man was very nice, and upgraded us for free to the family room with a view.
The room is lovely, and does indeed have a beautiful view of the island. It has a little balcony and a kitchenette.
After a potty break, we needed some dinner. Em put on her swimsuit, but we decided to get dinner first, so she wasn't all wet to sit in a restaurant. I checked Em's ankle, which she said was bothering her, and it had a fair-sized lump, so we thought we'd look for a pharmacy while we were out, to find an ace bandage. We walked over to the harbor, where the hotel booklet said the restaurants were. On the way, we did find a pharmacy. They had little disposable ace bandages for a euro each, so we bought 5.
We found the first one and sat down outside. The lady (I think she was the owner) came to take our order. We had said that we would try octopus while we were there, so Max ordered that for the appetizer. The owner said she could give us octopus, but it wasn't good. It's not fresh right now, it's frozen, so she didn't want to serve it. No worries for me, that means I don't have to try octopus. I can try frozen octopus anywhere, we were only going to get fresh in Greece because everybody says to. I was dreading it, anyway. One worry gone. I did, however, try the olives she brought to the table. It was an olive variety. I've tried and spit out olives in the past, but Max was saying how good they were, so I tried one. You have to eat an olive in Greece, no? It was horrible. It tasted like doctor's office. He conceded that perhaps the little black ones weren't the best. I tried a big green one. I thought it tasted just the same, like I had a big gulp of rubbing alcohol and scab, but this one was bigger, so it took longer to get through it. I didn't want to be the rude American and spit it out. So, I powered through, as my tongue tried in vain to get away from the olive; and my throat just tried to swallow it without rejecting it. But, I then had two olive pits on my plate, so I was triumphant. By then, we had table bread and a wonderful hummus that was so garlicky it made my eyes water and burned all of the olive out of my mouth, so I was good to go.
Dinner was spectacular. I had the best pork souvlaki I've ever had. Since I can't stand seafood, souvlaki is pretty much my go-to Greek meal, so I've had a fair amount. This was amazing. Max had fresh shrimp that was still whole - eyes and everything. They were huge, too. Mega shrimp.
He said they tasted like lobster. We finished our dinner and pocketed the rest of the table bread. Em fed her souvlaki fatty bits to the cats in the parking lot.
By now, it was dark, and Em didn't want to go in the water. She was a bit scarred by our adventure in the Red Sea when she saw the jellyfish, and wasn't about to swim in water she couldn't see. We did all take off our shoes and step in, though. We all wished we had taken off our shoes a bit closer to the shore, because though the rocks were smooth, they were still small enough to feel like a million little knuckles digging into the soles of our feet.
A short walk found us back at the hotel, again exhausted and ready for bed.
Emma says - There was a lot of driving today, too. I liked that Australian guy, he was nice. My ankle hurt today because I twisted it yesterday, but I didn't complain! Mycenae was really pretty. It was neat to be where I had read about so much history. I loved having the fort to ourselves in Nafplio. Dinner was amazing! I loved it. There were too many fatty bits, though, but I enjoyed feeding them to the cats in the parking lot.
WOW! Those shrimp look fabulous. Man.
ReplyDeleteI can really see how different we are...I would have been all over that beach. Forget the food and museums and stuff...Water, please!
Yeah, I'd be fine never seeing another beach in my life
Delete