Nafplion & Mycenae

We arrived early in the morning in the picturesque town of Nafplion in the Peloponnese. We could see the impressive castle on the top of the hill but we were told that we would visit it later in the day. Our buses were waiting already to take us to Mycenae, the capital of the kingdom of Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks against Troy. We drove through the plain of Argolis with lots of fruit trees. In a distance we could see the city of Argos which gave the name to the whole region. Very soon the ruins of the legendary city were in front of us. Hard to believe that we were walking on the same paths that Agamemnon had stepped on. More than 3000 years of history.

We started our tour by viewing the impressive entrance to the Acropolis, the “lion’s gate”. A relief on a triangular stone stands above the main door and two lions are guarding the kingdom. The traces of the missing wooden doors can still be seen. Immediately after the gate is grave circle A the cemetery where Schlieman discovered the untouched royal burials with loads of golden ornaments. One of the many golden masks seemed to him as if it was Agamemnon’s. He was thrilled and by that time he didn’t know he was wrong. We continued all the way to the top of the hill where the palace was with its famous bathroom where Agamemnon was killed. Almost nothing is left from the palace but the view was magnificent from up there. We went on touring the whole Acropolis so we had the opportunity to see the workshops, the storage area and the impressive underground cistern.

Before leaving the sight we stopped at the famous “beehive tomb” known as the “Treasury of Agamemnon”. In reality it is the tomb of Atrueus, father of Agamemnon. Up until today people have difficulty understanding how people managed to build something impressive like that in the 2nd millennium BC. Unfortunately, thieves discovered it before the archaeologists so nothing was found there.

We tried not to delay our departure from Mycenae because out next destination was Nemea, and running races were organized there as part of the “Panoramics”. The stadium of Nemea, one of the best preserved in Greece, welcomed Pan-Hellenic games in antiquity and now our athletes from the Panorama were ready to compete in that same stadium! The relay was in the end won by the Spartans who scored some points but everybody got a winners wreath on their head. It was fun for everybody. We sure had earned our lunch today and a siesta after lunch was a must.

Later in the afternoon, the buses took us up to the Palamidi Fort on the top of Nafplion where we had the opportunity to walk around and feel a bit like medieval soldiers. The view was wonderful and we took a lot of pictures and some chose to walk down the legendary 999 steps back to the town.
The day ended with a nice exploration of the narrow streets of Nafplion, some time for shopping and a big ice-cream after dinner!