Day 4 - Mycenae & Nafplio
Bourtzi Fortress: A Venetian Fortress (15th C.) in the harbor at Nafplio
Mycenae
We left Athens and picked up a rental car at the airport to drive the next portion of our trip. We drove 2 hours west onto the Peloponnese to the ruins and museum at Mycenae. The ruins here are among the oldest in Greece, predating the Acropolis in Athens. In the second millennium BC, Mycenae was one of the major centers of Greek civilization, and a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece.
It is also figures prominently in Greek mythology, most familiarly Homer’s Iliad. Agamemnon who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War was King of Mycenae.
Entrance to the Tomb of Agamemnon
Some artifacts from the museum:
A bronze recast of Agamemnon’s Death Mask. (The original - in GOLD - is in an Athens museum.)
Back in the car for a quick 30 minute drive down to the seacoast town of Nafplio.
Nafplio
Nafplio is a seacoast town with a rich history. They have 3 castles and a fortress from different periods when they were conquered and/or defending themselves from invading peoples. The Venetian’s and the Ottoman’s seemed to figure prominently in this regard. In modern times, it was the capitol of Greece for 12 years in the early 1800’s.
It is located on a peninsula and the Old City is right down by the water with narrow cobblestone streets and steep stairs with narrow alleyways climbing up toward the castles. Nafplio is a tourist town and when we arrived there was a LARGE cruise ship in the harbor and a fleet of tour busses waiting for the passengers on shore.
Our hotel is nestled in the middle of the Old City and we had a bit of an adventure finding it in our car! Google maps doesn’t seem to know the difference between a street you drive on and a pedestrian shopping street. So we pretended that we were in a James Bond movie, except that we avoided taking out any cafe tables or merchant displays. Once we made it safely through to the other side, we called the hotel and they talked us in… truly an adventure!
We had a little bit of down time at our hotel, Mike and I ran out to get some food, and at 4:30 we met our guide for a walking tour of the Old City.
On our balcony patio
Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary, 15th Century (still an active parish)
After our City Tour we went back to the room to rest. Then Mike and Sophia went to dinner by the sea and I stayed back to begin working on this blog post.
Then the moon rose from behind the Castle Palamidi! Breathtaking!
As usual….. Sopha’s VLOG for today!