Wednesday, June 18, 2025
The title photo is the Marianna Pension in Naphlio, and this lovely little courtyard is just outside of our door. It was a lovely place to sit and enjoy our morning coffee.
The town of Mycenae was a populous city dating back 3200 years. As with most cities of the time, there was an Upper and a Lower town. The rulers and the “upper crust” of society lived in the high city atop the hill, the Acro-polis, or “high city”. It was surrounded by high, strong walls with only two entrances. The regular folks lived in the lower town. Since it was constructed of sun-dried mud bricks instead of stone, little remains except the stone foundations.
Several large tombs were found in the area, the largest and best preserved is the Tholos Tomb, a beehive structure of corbeled stone. Earthen ramps used to roll the massive stones into place were left forming a mound over the tomb. Similar tombs have been found in Ireland, some with earth coverings, some without.
I usually don’t put people in my pictures, but I made an exception here so that you can see the massive size of this building. The triangular opening above the lintel was used to relieve the pressure on the lintel stone and carry the weight down to the supporting door columns.
The upper city of Mycenae covered a
large area, with private homes, several cemeteries, palaces, as well as
marketplaces and social areas.
Entrance was made through the lion gate,
a massive stone opening topped by carvings of two lions, the symbols of power
in the ancient world. Originally the
lions had heads of gold, but these have been looted over time.
Judging by the bodies, these people
seemed actually to know what lions looked like.
The bodies are very lifelike (unlike some of the lion sculptures in
Italy for instance).
Our group walked up the path to the top of the structure. The first part was cobbled stone and somewhat steep, but after that it was mostly paved with multiple switchbacks.
At the top we all paused to catch our
breath and take in the beautiful scenery.
The Palamidi Fortress looms over the
town, but we climbed up to it once before and really didn’t feel
like doing it again. As I remember, there were almost a thousand steps!
For our group dinner tonight, we went to
a small mom and pop restaurant where they cooked amazing food for us, family
style, and also, we had entertainers who played traditional folk music.
The man in the picture below played the bouzouki, a traditional greet instrument that is
like a cross between a lute and a banjo.
The lady to the left is our guide Ioanna.
We also passed by the old Naphlio city
gate, which also looked really nice with lights.
And great news! We have enough clean clothes to last until we get home. No more doing the wash every night!!