Day ride to Mycenae

May 19, 2009

On our layover day at Nafplio, we took a loop ride north to visit the famous remains of Mycenae, a great power in the Bronze Age and famous from the Iliad as the home of Agamemmnon and Menelaus. I read the Iliad forty years ago as a teenager, and had imagined seeing the Lions Gate and these hills for much of my life. They are impressive, but I must say were a bit of a letdown after all the amazing sites we had already experienced on this trip. Probably if we'd been here early on in the tour, or if the traffic and crowds were lesser it would have had more impact.

At Mycenae though, we had come full circle. From its heights you can look northward to the hills that rise above Corinth just over the horizon. We had about completed our circumnavigation of the Peloponnese.

The entrance to tomb of Atreus, Mycenae.

The rooftop of the tomb of Atreus. The tomb is a large tholos (beehive tomb), with a height of 13.5 meters and diameter of 14.5 meters - for a thousand years it was the largest known dome in existence.

The hills and countryside surrounding Mycenae.

Nafplio and the bay, from the roof of our hotel.

The rooftop of our hotel, Nafplio - one of the best reading lounges ever. This could make a good advertisement for our Kindle Readers!

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 795 miles (1,279 km)

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