Early Wake-up, Earlier Greece

Early wake-up call for breakfast. I was spoiled by our first hotel. The last two hotels have had more traditional European morning fare. Slim pickins for me the last two days – probably okay considering the other meals we’ve had in the last few days and the gelato place we found last night on our walk back to the hotel. I know where we’re going for dessert tonight.

On the bus at 8am to head to the Theater of Epidaurus. This theater is still being used today. In fact, it was used last night, so the ambience was ruined a bit by the lighting equipment and section signage that had not yet been struck. Even so, it was interesting to see how similar this facility was to the Theater of Dionysus on side of the Acropolis in Athens. Both carved into the side of mountain/hill, both with dignitary seating, both with large stage areas (orchestras). The theater, in antiquity, was believed to have healing powers – it was the genesis of modern-day art therapy. So people from all over Greece would be “prescribed” a day or days of theater to cure certain maladies. Performances consisted of three tragedies followed by a comedy (so as to leave the audience with a sense of relief after all that death). It was a day-long adventure. Our adventure was cut short by a brief rain storm that made climbing the marble stairs treacherous.

Back to the bus.

Forty-five minutes later we arrived at the ruins of Mycenae and the supposed tomb of Agamemnon. The ruins lay on the acropolis which, in reality, is not the acropolis, or high point of the city. In this case, they choose a smaller hill that gave them the tactical advantage of being able to see invaders from the sea and the mountains without being seen. Driving in from the sea and through the mountains, we literally could not see the ruins until we pulled within a quarter mile of them – but from the ruins we could see our path all the way back to Nafpilo.

We walked through the Lion Gate and viewed the supposed tomb of King Agamemnon (it most likely is not, but the archeologist who found this site was absolutely convinced of it). We traveled a half-mile back down the road to find another burial site built into the side of a hill. It was positioned purposefully so that sunlight streams into the chamber on the summer solstice – very Indiana Jones!

From there, we dined at King Menelaus restaurant. Lamb and potatoes and mousaka and Greek salad and the traditional beverage of Greece – Pepsi. The owner was so pleased that we enjoyed the meal, he smashed two plates on the marble floor, earning cheers and cries of “Opa!” from the American yokels. Best meal in two days.

The final tour stop of the day was a little family-run gift shop and pottery workshop just down the road. We received a demonstration of how they make some of their pieces, although we were not shown some of the more advanced (i.e. – ancient) techniques they use to reproduce museum-quality pieces. They are one of two shops left in Greece that continue to use these ancient techniques – I checked out their work in the front of the store – a touch out of my price range…by several hundred Euro.

Oh well…next time I’m here…

We have been given the rest of the day off. The high school kids have all meandered down to the beach. The rest of my party has skedaddled into the town square market for some window shopping. I’m down to my last 40 Euro with three meals still left to pay for, so I’m going to wander the street with my camera. Michael and I have entered into a surprisingly fun photo contest – I am learning from the master and hope to have some shots to prove it to you in future posts.

Opa!