November 18 - Nafplio, Greece

Today we’re anchored off the city of Nafplio, the capital of the Greek region of Argolis which is located on the Peloponnese Peninsula.  My tour was scheduled to leave at 8 AM so I was up before the sun came up today. We tendered ashore as soon as the ship had been cleared and boarded our bus for the 45-minute ride to Mycenae. During the 2nd millennium BC Mycenae was one of the predominant Greek cities, so much so that the period from about 1600 BC to 1100 BC in Greek history is called the Mycenaean.  

To get to the ruins of Mycenae we traveled through the Argolis valley which is agricultural. We drove through miles and miles of orange and olive groves. When we got off the bus to visit the site, I was nearly blown away quite literally.  The wind has been howling all day and because we were on a hill above the valley we were getting the full effects. It made for very difficult walking.  I managed to twist my knee a little which impeded the rest of my visit, but I still was able to see some of the sights.

From the bus riding through the valley the trees are all orange trees

Everyone has heard of the Acropolis and we all think of the one in Athens, but every Greek city had an acropolis which is usually on the top of a hill for defensive purposes.  In addition to being a citadel it was also a place for religious worship and was a center for all community life. The ruins of the acropolis are visible from quite far away but much of the site is unexcavated.. The same man who excavated the city of Troy over in what’s now Turkey did some of the earliest work here.  His name was Henirich Schliemann and because of his archaeological finds it became accepted that Homer’s The Iliad was based on historical events as opposed to just mythology.

Parts of the stone wall are from the Mycenaean period and as you'll see in the next photo there are mounds covered with grass that are surely ruins that have yet to be excavated.

There are only a few somewhat intact structures left. One of them is the Lion Gate, which is the modern name for what was the main entrance to the acropolis. It’s about the only piece of classical Mycenaean sculpture which was never buried.  The builders used a natural contour to construct a ramp up to the gate to the inner citadel.  The only other intact structure is outside the acropolis and a little downhill. It’s called the Treasury of Atreus, but it’s actually a very elaborate tomb. No one really knows who was buried in the tomb but it had to be someone of great importance because of its size and the elaborate structure. It’s believed to have been built around 1300 BC and it’s thought that it was the tallest building in Greece at the time.

The Lion Gate

The acropolis of Mycenae

The Treasury of Atreus

From Mycenae we drove to Epidaurus which in ancient Greece was a medical center. In mythology it was believed to be the birthplace of Asclepius, the son of Apollo. Asclepius was the god of healing and so Epidaurus became a healing sanctuary, a sort of ancient spa.  I like the story the guide told us.  People would come from afar to be healed of whatever ailed them.  They would spend the night in a big sleeping hall and as they slept the god would come to them in their dreams to tell them what they had to do to cure their ailment.  One of the most famous people who came to study there was Hippocrates who we call the father of medicine today.  Nothing is really left of the sanctuary but what is there is a very large and well-preserved theater.  The Greek theaters were amphitheaters that were open air.  Unfortunately, after I took my little misstep at our first stop I didn’t really want to negotiate what were a lot of uneven steps to get up to the amphitheater.  I’ve seen other ones in a few other places so I decided to wait down below and look at the little museum.  I have  another two and a half weeks to go. I also have learned I can’t do everything anymore.  I have gotten a picture from one of my fellow travelers though to include here.

The theater at Epidaurus as taken by a shipmate

I like history and mythology so I want to tell another little story the guide shared.  As I wrote earlier, Asclepius was the son of Apollo.  After he began healing people Zeus became worried that Asclepius would resurrect the dead, something that Zeus thought only he should be allowed to do. So, Zeus got the Cyclopes to make him a thunderbolt with which he killed Asclepius.  Apollo was so angry about that he in turn killed the Cyclopes.  Zeus then threw Apollo out of Olympus.  These gods were vindictive characters.  It all worked out in the end though.  Asclepius was brought back by Zeus and made a god in the pantheon of gods; Apollo was allowed to come back and eventually they all lived sort of happily ever after.

After our stop there we drove back to Nafplio and now we’re on our way to Piraeus, the port for Athens where most of the people I’ve met including my friend Hilary will be leaving. I heard that just 72 of us are staying on, but we’ll be picking up some new folks.  I hope there are some dancers among them.  My pictures aren’t very good and the day was not among the best I’ve ever had, but I’ve got lots of sea days ahead to recharge.