Flirting with "BC Burnout"

A college history class on Greek and Roman history whetted my appetite for a trip to Greece. I'd always thought it would be one of the first international trips I'd take, but other destinations somehow managed to take precedence over the years. Well, it may have taken a few decades for me to finally make it there, but as the saying goes, "better late than never." After the major decision was made came the hard part--what would the travel itinerary be? So much to choose from. We weren't looking for a beach vacation or to keep company with hordes of cruise ship visitors, so we decided to skip the islands and stick to the mainland for our intro to Greece. We had just under two weeks for our trip, and definitely didn't want to be moving from hotel to hotel every day, so we settled on a base of exploration--with rental car--in Nafplio for 6 nights, 3 nights in Athens, and finally, a 4-day/3-night independent travel package to Delphi and the monasteries at Meteora in central Greece. 

We took our first day trip out of Nafplio on Saturday, September 9, to the archeological site of Mycenae, a UNESCO World Heritage site a mere 30-minute drive from our hotel. The Myceneans pre-dated the ancient Greek civilization by about a thousand years. The Mycenean Age was the period from 1600 BC to about 1100 BC, and the stronghold and town of Mycenae was its primary center of power. Mycenae is strongly associated with the mythological figures of the epics written by Homer, and particularly the story of the Trojan War. While a war of Greeks and Trojans may have some basis in historical fact, the specifics of that history remain unclear, and the various players, e.g., Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Achilles, Helen, Paris, and many others, were mythological, not historical. In the real world, the Mycenean civilization collapsed around 1200 BC; the ruins were a tourist attraction during the Roman occupation more than a thousand years later.

The acropolis of Mycenae. "Acropolis" is a general term to refer to a citadel or fortified part
of an ancient Greek city, typically one built on a hill. At its peak around 1350 BC, the acropolis of Mycenae and its lower town were estimated to have a population of about 30,000. Much of the excavation of the site was done in the 1800's.

The Lion's Gate, dated 1240 BC, was the main entrance
to the citadel. It is the oldest monumental relief in Europe.
Sadly, the heads of the lions are gone.

An interior view of the citadel, with the opening of the Lion's
Gate visible at left. Mycenean architecture is said to be
"Cyclopean", because of the use of enormous boulders that
the classical Greeks believed could only have been lifted by
the mythological one-eyed strongmen, the Cyclops.

Grave Circle A, used exclusively for royal burials in the 
16th C BC.

View from the citadel to the west and the excavations of the lower town area. The tour
buses are an indication of the popularity of the site as a day tour destination. The switchback
walking path is how we made the ascent to the citadel. It was a hot day--during our time
in the Nafplio area the daytime highs were routinely in the 90's--so we timed our visit for the 
morning. And we had an umbrella with us for relief "just in case."

Lon near the remnants of the Artists' Quarter.

After two hours of pondering rocks and trying to visualize how Mycenae looked when it was intact--and recognizing that the site was starting to get crowded and hot--we left Mycenae and drove to the ancient sites of Nemea, about 30 minutes further north. In Greek Mythology, Nemea was the site where Hercules/Heracles completed the first of his Twelve Labors, the killing of the Nemean Lion. (Fun fact: Hercules and Heracles are two different names for the same Greek mythological figure. Hercules is based on the Latin version of the original Greek name, whereas Heracles is the English version of the Greek name.) In Greek history, a stadium built at Nemea between 330 and 320 BC was the site of the Nemean Games, one of four sites for ancient athletic competitions. No crowds met us here.

All that remains of the athletes' locker room.

The stadium, not excavated until the late 1970's. The
 spectators had to sit on the ground; the visible concrete
 was part of a water-channeling system. The Modern Nemean
Games are held here every 4 years. (The 8th such games were
held June 28-30, 2024.)

A short distance removed from the stadium is a sanctuary of Zeus that was active during the
summers that the games were held. It was first built upon in the 6th C BC. The columns show
the location of the 4th C BC version of the Temple of Zeus. The darkest three columns are 
original to the temple; the other six columns are reconstructions. The temple originally had
32 columns. There were a lot of "unattributed" stones on this site--as elsewhere in Greece--job
 security for archeologists if the money can be found to fund their efforts.

When we were in the Loire Valley in July, we had decided that two chateau per day was our max in order to avoid "overload." With the heat such as it was in Greece, and with the level of mental engagement needed to read and understand site information, two archeological visits per day was probably going to be our max if we wished to avoid "BC Burnout." So, after Nemea, it was back to our hotel in Nafplio to rest and relax.

Our next day trip took place on September 9, and we broke our "two site" rule that day. In our defense, the places we visited were short drives from Nafplio as well as relatively compact in size, and therefore did not require as much time and effort to see as, for example, a site like Mycenae. Again taking advantage of cooler morning temperatures, a 20-minute drive took us to the top of Larissa Hill and the ruins of the castle that still keeps watch over the town of Argos. This was a castle that we could see from our hotel in Nafplio (and was circled in blue in one of the photos in the previous blog posting.) For many centuries this castle was the military, administrative, and cult center of Argos. It has traces of Mycenean walls, but it is primarily a Medieval site, with parts that were added by its various conquerors over the years: Romans, Frankish Crusaders, Venetians, and Ottoman Turks.

It was a narrow, steep, winding approach to the castle.

Our rental car is parked below, as high as we could drive.
 Of course, there will still be a climb to actually get
inside the castle.

A medieval cistern.

The views from the top were awesome. Nafplio is located at the left-hand side
of the body of water that is visible about mid-photo.

Our second stop of the morning was at the Mycenean site of Tiryns, on the outskirts of Nafplio. Also UNESCO listed, Tiryns was probably the second most important site of the Mycenean civilization and was famed for the thickness of its walls. It became associated with the myths of Hercules, as it was said to be his residence during his labors, and perhaps even his birthplace. What we found was a smaller site than Mycenae, and with not nearly as much site-specific signage that would have made a visit more informative. Consequently, we didn't stay very long.

An exterior view of Tiryns on the approach from the parking lot. LOTS of loose boulders in the 
vicinity. Probably most of the disarray is due to centuries of deterioration, but some stones
 from Tiryns were taken by the Italian army during WWII.

Left: Lots of uneven steps to enter the upper level of the citadel of Tiryns.
Right: The ancient writers were correct; the walls were very thick.

A panorama of the interior of the citadel. It was mostly foundations and very few
signs to let us know what we were looking at. Given its UNESCO status, the minimalist
approach to the site was surprising. On a positive note, it wasn't at all crowded.

It was about time for lunch when we left Tiryns. We had one further archeological stop in our sights for the day, Asine, a fortified site of the Mycenean civilization that overlooks the sea south and east of Nafplio. I had not been aware of the place until two days earlier, when we visited Mycenae and bought a multi-site entry ticket that included Asine. It was only a 20-minute drive from Nafplio, so why not? First, though, lunch. Lon knows better than to make me wait too long to eat, because I have a tendency to get "hangry." Adjacent to Asine was the resort town of Tolo, and we couldn't think of a better place to eat lunch than waterside.

Tolo seemed like a place that would cater to vacationers of moderate means. The
water was beautiful, the breeze refreshing, and the food good.

Not much ancient remained at Asine. It had been excavated by Swedish archeologists in the 1920's, and from the photos on the site, was probably in a condition about as good as anything we'd seen so far, but the Italian army decimated the place during their occupation of Greece in WWII--ancient history was no match for pillboxes and antiaircraft gun installations. Recent funding by the European Union to restore it to some semblance of historical interest has resulted in footpaths and stairways on the site, as well as information signs. 

Upper: Roman baths after the Swedish excavations.
Lower: What is left of the baths today.

An Italian WWII pillbox.

The view looking toward Tolo.

Only a very small amount of the cyclopean walls remains.

All of the stair climbing at Asine made my feet long for a
refreshing dip in the water. The pebbles were a little tough to
walk over, but the water felt wonderful.

It was definitely time to return to the hotel. 

Tuesday, September 10, was our last full day in Nafplio and we had one "must see" site to visit, the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus. It was constructed in the late 4th C BC as part of a sanctuary that was dedicated to the Greek God of Medicine, Asclepius. It is regarded as the best-preserved ancient theater in Greece in terms of its structure and acoustics, and is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The larger sanctuary site is also impressive. The location was used for ceremonial healing practices as early as the 2nd millennium BC. The healing cults of Apollo and Asklepios (same god, different spelling) developed in the 8th and 6th C BC, respectively, and Epidaurus became the single most important therapeutic center of the ancient world.

The theater was constructed in the late 4th C BC, excavated
in the 1880's and partially restored. It was estimated to hold
at least 12,000 spectators. Currently, the theater is
the site of music and theatrical productions in July and August.

What has gone up must come down, but the pitch of the
stairs didn't always make that easy. I was grateful for the sections
that had hand railings, but those were by far in the minority.

Having a good day in Epidaurus. For as many tour buses as
there were in the parking lot, the site didn't feel especially
crowded. Of course, the entire site gave room to spread out.

The stadium at the Sanctuary of Asclepius. Athletic competitions
were part of festivities at the site.

The ruins of Asclepius Temple.

The sanctuary site was really, really big.

The on-site museum could more safely display some
of the fragmented finds that were uncovered.

Fascinating as it was, two hours on site was about our limit. Rather than return immediately to Nafplio, we decided to continue driving east and have lunch in the town of Epidaurus on the Saronic Gulf. What a great decision. It reminded us so much of some of the little Caribbean towns we've been in over the years: water-oriented, with a port and a dive center and a selection of waterfront restaurants. We picked one at random and the food and the view were both great.

Our lunchtime view.

And this.

This cat was making a rather bold play for what it wanted.

An evening dinner on the waterfront in Nafplio and a walk through town was the perfect ending to a wonderful stay in a beautiful town. We were curious what the "big city" of Athens would hold for us over the next few days.