Tracing the Trojan War in Greece

So, I had such a great time relaxing in Hydra the past few days that I lost track of time and thought it had been the weekend when, in fact, I was there from Wednesday to Friday. Silly me, my blog title yesterday is now completely inaccurate, but certainly captures just how relaxed I was.

Today, though, marked the real weekend, and since we had the day off, I booked a one-day tour to visit Mycenae, an ancient site that is supposed to be the home to the victors of the Trojan War. My tour started early this morning, and thankfully, the bus picked me up at the hotel across from our guesthouse.

From there, we drove towards Corinth and stopped for a 20-minute bathroom break right next to the impressive Corinth Canal. I got ripped off for a can of Pringles (oh well) and then headed to the bridge to take pictures of the massive Canal below.

Up to this point, I had been sleeping soundly on the bus, so I had no idea we even crossed over it and was honestly quite ho-hum about it. But, as I got closer, I realized that the Canal stretched way farther than I had thought and was definitely much deeper than I had imagined. Check it out!

I was actually still a bit tired, and since I went on this trip by myself, I was quite the introvert today. I snapped a few more pictures and then went back to the bus to wait for the rest of our tour group to return.

We hit the road again, heading west toward Epidaurus, home to perhaps the most well preserved ancient theater in Greece. As we passed some amazingly picturesque views of the Saronic Gulf, I read up quickly about Epidaurus in my Rick Steves’ book.

At Epidaurus, what I saw was quite impressive—the theater was completely still intact (they still have performances here, I hear) and the acoustics are extraordinary.

Our tour guide stood in the middle of the stage and had our group disperse to all corners of the massive theater. Then she spoke softly and clapped a few times. The sound was so clear we could all hear her even when she breathed heavily a few times (on purpose, of course).

After that, there wasn't all that much to see in Epidaurus. The museum had mostly just copies as the originals are in the National Archeological Museum of Athens. Behind the museum, the ruins were...just ruins.

So, back on the bus we went. This time, toward Nafplio, the first capital city of Greece, the modern country. It's situated on the Argolic Gulf (as in the city, Argos, from Jason and the Argonauts) and is the home to three different castles that watch over the city--two on a cliff overlooking the bay and one on a small island in the bay.

We stopped for literally five minutes to just take pictures and then we left.

From there, we traveled north to the highlight of the tour (at least for me, it was)--the ancient hillside fortress of Mycenae. I first learned about Mycenae during my sophomore year of high school in Western Civ and then brushed up on the art history part of the Mycenaean culture in AP Art History during my senior year in high school.

From what I remember (and from skimming Rick Steves), a German archaeologist named Heinrich Schliemann discovered the ancient city of Troy in modern day Turkey during the late 19th century. Soon after, he set his sights on uncovering the other major player in Homer's tales of the Trojan War--Agamemnon and the Mycenaeans. He would later find it nestled in the hills of the Peloponnesus and started naming everything (accurately or not) after the characters from Homer's tales.

So, my little quest today brought me to the location of Schliemann's famous find. Of all the places I saw today, Mycenae was by far the most impressive.

Between two large, wooded mountains, the massive stony fortress and former palace sat on a raised hill with a winding and rocky path leading straight up to the main feature I had come to see--the Lion's Gate.

The majestic entrance is even more impressive when you consider that it was built almost 1,000 years before the Parthenon and that the lintel (the horizontal beam below the two lions) weighs a whopping 18 tons!

The heads of the two lions have long been gone, but the entire entrance is for the most part still intact. I stood in front of the gate for a solid few minutes. Yes, I'm a nerd. : )

Heading through the gate, the rocky path becomes much steeper and takes you all the way to the top of the palace where the king of Mycenae would have had his throne. The view from the top is quite breath-taking. Off to the south, you can make out the shores of the Argolic Gulf and the city of Nafplio.

I spent about 30 minutes walking around the entire site and took plenty of pictures. So many, in fact, I had to switch out the batteries as I had expected. Thank goodness I had extra batteries though.

After we all returned to the bus, we headed down the street to the Temple of Atreus (also known as the Tomb of Agamemnon), which used to be a tomb built in a beehive structure. The huge stone blocks outside were quite massive, and I'm still in awe at how they brought them all from the stone quarries a few miles away.

Walking through the gate was a humbling experience. The gate is massive and this same entrance was used for the king's funeral. Story has it that the tomb was never buried but was always uncovered and was accidentally discovered by a shepherd whose goat had fallen into the hole where the structure's keystone had been (the keystone was the middle stone that held up the entire building...it's now missing, but the structure stays still because the weight of all the bricks fall on each other and thus hold it up).

After this awesome excursion, we headed back towards Athens, but not before a brief lunch at a local restaurant where I sat with two Italians who were in Greece for vacation. They were very nice, and I enjoyed chatting with them since I had not talked to anyone else at all during the entire trip. Who knows...I felt like being an introvert today.

We also stopped at a pottery shop where I got a few gifts for my family. Surprise, surprise!

Then, I fell asleep on the way home as I was completely exhausted. The internet at our guesthouse still doesn't work, so I'm again at a cafe with free Wi-Fi and just had a club sandwich with a chocolate Freddo. Note to self, don't get a chocolate Freddo ever again--way too sweet. I'm sticking with the espresso or cappuccino Freddo from now on.

Tomorrow, we have interviews in the morning for research and then head to the soccer game in the evening. Should be fun! European soccer games are always wild, and I have no doubt tomorrow's match will be no different.

Sorry if my enthusiasm for ancient art history and western civilization was too boring at all. Hopefully, you still enjoyed the pictures.

Enjoy your weekend,

Sam