Some wonderful amphitheatres!

 Friday, January 22, 2016

Hello!

Up this morning about 7 after a fairly good night’s sleep.  (R’s cell phone rang this time, about 3:30 am; we’re going to have to do something about silencing cell phones at night, as that apparently is a good time for people to call…even when you’re on the Do Not Call list!)  The shower was interesting.  First of all, it’s a tub, not a shower compartment … but it’s not quite a full-size tub so you really couldn’t sit down in it, and is configured in a figure 8 formation, with one end higher than the other.  Hmmm…  And as last time, at Diolkos, it was me flooding out the bathroom floor, this time I did much better, and it was Robert who got water all over everything!  Oh well, that’s what towels are for.

Down to breakfast at 8 (which is when they start serving) and unlike the usual buffet, we were served a big bowl of fruit and yogurt, a plate of bread and a couple slices of pound cake, and then something they call “toast” which is toasted bread, with baloney (at least, it resembles baloney) on the inside.   Well, let’s just say I’m not a baloney fan, unlike my late Dad who used to ask for a “baloney sandwich” every time we took him out to eat!  So…not a full breakfast this morning, by any means.   We were, however, able to hand off a bag full of dirty laundry, as the hotel’s website talks about a “washing machine.”  I’m thinking this might be the last we’ll need doing until we get home, but I have to do an official count tomorrow morning, as we pack up to head to Sparta.

So…out the door about 8:30 am and heading to our first spot of the day, which is Lerna, located about 5 km west of town. 

"House of Tiles" named after its collapsed roof

Ancient stairs leading to upper floor

As it turns out, I was able to turn the car around in the small space at the end of the hotel, which gave me a straight shot heading down the street to get out.  Worked out very well!  (Unlike when we got back this afternoon and there was NO space at all, and I had to turn the car around on a hill and take it back to the nearby plaza to park.)

Found Lerna with no problem, and the nice man went ahead of us and opened up the covered site.  Lerna has been inhabited since the Neolithic, and in classical Greece was a region of springs, south of Argos.  Its site is most famous as the lair of the Lernaean Hydra, the many-headed water snake that Heracles killed as the second of his twelve labors.  We were able to see the shaft graves as well as the House of Tiles.  All in all, an interesting but not spectacular site.  (We do tend to like our sites to be spectacular, either as to antiquities or view; obviously, we’re getting spoiled!)

From there, we headed to Argos, another city that has been inhabited since prehistoric times up until today. 

Agora at Argos

Amphitheatre

Amphitheatre at Argos

And, unlike Mycenae or Lerna, Ancient Argos is right smack in the middle of town.  The site was also free, which is unusual in our experience, although there wasn’t much signage to tell us what we were looking at.  (But fortunately, we have a very good guide book!) We walked around the agora (town center) and then crossed the street to find their spectacular theatre!  (As we were walking toward the theatre, it looked to us like a very, very tall wall right into the mountain side.)  However, in reality it is 81 rows of seats, giving it a capacity of 20,000 spectators.  

From Argos, we made our way to Tiryns, a third (after Mycenae and Argos) Mycenaean city in the area.  I had really been looking forward to Tiryns, especially after seeing Mycenae, and it really let me down!  First of all, on this really large site, there is not ONE word of explanation in ANY language!  Even with our guidebook, with nothing to orient ourselves on, things were very hard to find.  Robert did find the 20 ton slab of limestone in the palace bath area, and we were able to locate two of the cisterns – but other than that, nothing fabulous to report.  There was work on-going on some of the Cyclopean walls (supposedly built by Cyclops!) 

Can you see me now?

From Tiryns we decided to head to Epidaurus, but on our way there, detoured a couple of miles to see a Mycenaean bridge – that is still there (built ca. 1300 BC) but still being used as a bridge by the local populace.  It was wonderful!

Epidaurus was known for its sanctuary and “hospital” as well as its theatre, which is still in use today.  (The theatre, that is, not the hospital.)  The Asclepeion at Epidaurus was the most celebrated healing center of the Classical world, where ill people went in the hope of being cured.  (One of my favorite places in Pergamon in Turkey, was their Asclepeion, based on the one we saw today.)  Patients would spend a night in the Enkoimeteria, a big sleeping hall, where the god Asclepius himself would advise them in their dreams what they had to do to regain their health. 

The theatre was absolutely stunning!  It was designed in the 4^th century BC, and originally had 34 rows (expanded by the Romans an additional 21 rows) as well as a circular (rather than semi-circular) orchestra, which is a perfect circle 20m in diameter with an altar in the middle.  The acoustics are amazing.  With Robert in the middle and me more than half-way up, I could hear him speaking in a regular voice!  This site we did have to share … there were five other people already there! 

Cyclopean walls at Tiryns

Tiryns inner wall

20 ton slab of limestone in royal bath!

Tiryns cisterns

 

The museum at Epidaurus really wasn’t much, unfortunately.  Most of the things inside were casts of things that have been shipped to Athens and are now probably NOT on view to tourists!  Oh well!  We did enjoy the walk around the Asclepeion and surrounding buildings.  There is a great deal of excavation and restoration work still being carried out there.

Capital in Epidaurus museum

Epidaurus amphitheatre

Epidaurus amphitheatre

Epidaurus theatre; note circular orchestra

Temple at Epidaurus

Stadium with starting line at Epidaurus

Mycenaean bridge -- still in use!

By this time, it was almost 2 pm and we had seen all of the sites that were on my “Friday” list.  It had also gotten very much colder and very overcast, even though there is only a 10% chance of rain predicted, so we decided to head back to Nafplio.  Back to the hotel, and now R is napping and I am finishing up today’s story!  R does not want to go back to 3Sixty tonight, so I have found what looks to be a good place for dinner … we will see, smoke-wise, when we get there.  I have also found a place called Liz’s Cupcakes – so I thought I might take a little walk down into town soon, just to check them out!

Lots of love, and more later!

m

xxx