Kalamata 2019 Blog 3

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Only one panoramic photo this time so don't wait for it to change. Also, there are more photos below the text if you want to skip the diary details; and if you double click on any of the photos you will get an enlarged, clearer image. You can return to the text anytime.

Friday 7 June: the first big expedition, to the Northern Peloponnese to look at the great theatre at Epidaurus and Mycenae, home of Agamemnon of Iliad fame. Initially the drive was easy as we zoomed north 120kms / 75 miles up the brand new motorway from Kalamata to the turn-off for Epidaurus. The motorway had slightly more traffic than on our previous experience, coming back from Sparti, but it was still quite normal to see for 1 or 2 miles ahead completely traffic free: easy driving. From the motorway exit to Epidaurus was only 58 kms / 36 miles but it seemed to take as long as the drive up the motorway as our route took us through the towns of Argos and then Nafpoli; both of which I hoped we'd avoid and even though I was using a Garmin satnav AND Google Maps on the "smartphone" with the fastest route selected. I should trust my basic map reading skills more.

We arrived at Epidaurus in the mid afternoon when it was still hot (33C / 90F) but fortunately the site was quite well shaded so it wasn't too bad. The theatre is really the only thing worth seeing but it is worth it. The best preserved and largest of all ancient Greek theatres; and it still puts on performances of Greek classics throughout the summer months as well as more modern performances. It's claimed that the acoustics are so perfect that people sitting in the back row of the upper tier can hear a whisper coming from the centre of the orchestra, just in front of the stage. Not true. We were sitting on the top row, 55 rows back and more or less centre stage, and while I could hear people in the orchestra speaking I could not make out their words. To be fair, if they had raised their voices a just little I would have heard them clearly. There's a central spot in the orchestra where if one stands there and speaks in a normal voice there is a noticeable feedback/echo from all sides. The rest of the archaeological site is pretty much what one would expect, lots of foundation stones showing where the walls used to be, but no interpretive signs to give an idea of what it used to look like, so we didn't spend too much time looking around.

Feeling rather tired after all the driving and sight seeing we headed to a taverna just outside the site for a late lunch and drink. Then on to our hotel for the night, the Perivoli Hotel in the hills a few kms from the town of Nafplio that we'd inadvertently passed through earlier. There didn't appear any obvious reason why the hotel should be located where it was: on a low hillside 2/3 kms from the main road, and on its own outside a small village. Anyway it was very nice: modern, spotlessly clean and comfortable with attentive staff and good food.

Saturday 8th June: we had three items on the day's agenda: 1/ look around Nafpoli which has an interesting history. 2/ visit Mycenae, one of the great archaeological sites, and 3/ get back to Kalamata before dark. Nafpoli first, and quite interesting as the old part of town with its narrow streets and Ottoman era buildings has been pedestrianised and gentrified which made for pleasant walking around. Although there are two imposing castles overlooking the town the temperature was too high (35C / 95F) to contemplate walking up, or even driving up to look around them. Instead we visited the Archaeological Museum in the main square of the old town which was interesting and informative as there has been human settlement in the local area continuously for over 30,000 years.After a reviving drink in a nearby cafe we headed for Mycenae just 24 km / 15 miles along the road leading back to the motorway. It was after 3pm by the time we arrived at the village of Mykines just outside the site so we stopped there for a late lunch and then headed up to the site. From a distance it's not that impressive just a jumble of stones on a hill, and overlooked by much higher hills on two sides. The entrance more than makes up for any initial disappointment: the justly famous lion gate is very imposing, made of just three massive slabs of stone with the two lions set in a triangular stone above the giant lintel stone. The rest of the hilltop citadel had some interesting features but nothing to compare with the gateway. We visited the on site museum afterwards to look at the replicas of Agamemnon's treasures discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876; along with many other exhibits which rather paled compared to the Schleimann discovery despite being archaeologically more interesting. There was one final thing to look at before we left which was the Treasury of Atreus just below the main site. Another jaw dropper. This wasn't a treasury and it had nothing to do to Atreus. It's the tomb of a Mycenaean king and is the largest and best preserved tomb of it's type. The whole of the fabulous Maeshowe burial chamber in Orkney would probably fit inside the inner chamber of this tomb, and this one is older than Maeshowe. Interestingly the builders of both chambers used exactly the method, corbeling the stones to create the dome shape. Those ancients certainly knew how to build big and to build to last. Then it was back to the car and a further struggle with the satnav directions before we got back to the motorway; then it was just over an hour back to our hotel in Kalamata

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Photos

Theatre at Epidaurus
Built in 330-320 BC and enlarged around AD150. Holds up to 14,000 people and has wonderful acoustics.

The VIP audience up in Row 35
Possibly not too impressed with the show so far. Is that the dreaded thumbs down?

Perivoli Hotel
Out in the sticks near Nafplio but spotlessly clean, comfortable and efficient

Nafplio main square
The museum is in the background

Nafplio Museum
Bronze suit of armour approximately 3,500 years old. It looks like it was the model for the Black Knight in Monty Pythoin and the Holy Grail

Palamidi Fortress Nafplio
One of two castles overlooking the town; with another just down the road in Argos

Lion Gate Mycenae
Built around 3,250 years ago. The gate consists of just 4 blocks of stone, including the stone relief of the two lions. The lintel stone is believed to weigh around 20 tons. Amazing engineering

Lion Gate Mycenae
View from the inside. The two upright stones have been cut back so that the gate hinges are concealed from the outside

Mycenae
Looking south towards Argos, on the coast

Mycenae's secret cistern
It's actually a passageway leading to an underground well outside the walls. This provided the occupants of the city with a secure water source in the event of a siege

Where the water was stored
This tank is next to the entrance to the "secret cistern"

Postern Gate
The back door to Mycenae

The Tomb of Atreus
Just outside the citadel of Mycenae. Known as a Tholos or beehive tomb (because of the conical shape) believed to be 3,300 years old.

Looking at the afterlife
Awstruck visitor at the tomb entrance. The lintel stone is a massive slab of rock thought to weigh 120 tons, the largest lintel stone in the world

The golden face of Agamemnon
According to Heinrich Schliemann who discovered the hoard when excavating Mycenae in 1876. It isn't Agamemnon but some obviously rich and powerful king who lived around 3,500 years ago. The original is in Athens

Even more swag
It was a most wonderful discovery and led the way to further later excavations which revealed further treasures