Day 8 - Mycenae and Corinth...Farewell in Athens

 Thursday morning we left Nafplion and picked up our Local Specialist for the day, Christina. 

Christina took us to our first stop, the Greek city of Epidaurus; here we found the Sanctuary of Asclepius which included an ancient hospital and The Ancient Theatre of Epidaurusin. This Theatre is dedicated to the ancient Greek God of medicine, Asclepius. We toured the museum which included many artifacts from the hospital including medical instruments that looked very similar to what is used today 2500 years later. 

The hospital pillars were constructed with translucent marble that was transported to this sacred place. Sunlight striking the pillar would shine through and make it look lit up. 

Asclepius, originally a mortal, later became the god of medicine and healing. The rod wrapped in a snake is recognized as the symbol of physicians today. 

The Theatre has acoustics that are unmatched even today. We had a great time demonstrating how the sound travels equally within the theatre regardless where you sit as long as the performer is within a triangle on the stage. 

The theater seated 14,000. It is huge. 

We made the trek to the top, 114 steps, it was a good workout. 

Even from the top row you could hear the students on the stage reading....it was not in English so we have no idea what they were reading. 

Our next stop was the castle in Mycenae which has an entrance called 'Lion Gate' that is one of the few ancient sites that was not completely buried over time. It is more like a fort on top of a mountain. 

It was a larger fort that overlooked and controlled the port as well as the surrounding area. Excavations in modern times found many artifacts and 40 pounds of gold that was buried in several graves inside the walls. 

It was another good hike and the views from the top are amazing.

A very short distance from the Lion Gate is a Mycenaean chamber tomb. The Treasury of Atreus or Tomb of Agamemnon is a large tholos or beehive tomb constructed between 1400 and 1200 BC, that is really old. 

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The inside is roughly 45ft in diameter and 40ft tall, although it looks much taller from inside. Bodies were left to decompose in the center of the tomb and then their bones were moved to a smaller chamber off to the side....yuk. 

On our way to Corinth we made a quick stop at a pottery shop. It was interesting to see how pottery is made. 

Looking at the pottery replicas it became obvious that Hitler liked Greek art also. 

We stopped for a nice lunch and then continued onto the Ancient Corinth Archeological Site and Museum. Corinth was a huge city in ancient times since it separated the Agean Sea with the Ionian Sea by only 6 kilometers. When the Romans came it was the first city they took and as was the rule back then they razed it to set an example for all other cities that would resist the Roman Empire. 

The Romans did rebuild much of it and the ruins clearly show a vibrant city between the seas.  

The main temple was for Apollo and was huge.

One of the coolest things about Corinth is that The Apostle Paul spent time here and wrote of this place in his letters to the Corinthians documented in the bible. I told Donna that 1000s of years from now people will say I am walking where Donna did because they will have read it in a Blog.  The bible is after all a very old Blog. 

On our way to Athens we stopped at the Corinth Canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It is a bit over 6 kilometers long but is not wide enough (85ft) for the big ships of today. It is still used by smaller vessels and Bungy Jumping since it is 200ft to the water surface. 

While at the Canal, I spotted a Ben and Jerry's cooler in a small store, too funny. 

As we entered Athens it became clear the citizens have returned from holiday and the streets were jammed. We planned to go to the hotel and then dinner, but due to traffic we unloaded near the Plaka and went on foot to our restaurant for our Farwell Dinner. 

We had a very nice dinner in a small restaurant in the Plaka. 

We even had live music. 

We left full and made our way through the lively streets to our waiting coach. 

Our last night in the Divani Palace  Acropolis hotel we had an even better view of the Parthenon. 

This was the end of our Trafalgar Tour. We have contact information for most of those on our tour and will stay in touch with some. Everyone got along swimmingly. 

I think we saw much more on the tour than we would have seen on our own and certainly came away with a better understanding of what we saw with the help of Nadine and the Local Specialists.  We saw and did a lot, although at times some had a bit of difficulty keeping up with the pace. 

Our Tour Director, Nadine, did a great job of 'herding cats' and always got us to where we needed to be on time. 

Our Driver, Cristos, was a master at the wheel and the Coach was like riding on a magic carpet most of the time. 

 

We will be staying another 3 nights to see a bit of Athens on our own and will be taking a one day cruise on Saturday to see some of the islands.