Mycenae -- Μικινησ

Our typical Greek breakfast

Our first stop today was the ancient of Mycenae, and we wanted to get an early start to beat the crowds. At breakfast at our hotel, there were about 20 American tourists just finishing up eating. We were nervous that this large group was going to Mycenae, but they assured us that they had been there already. We were relieved then, and looked forward to a relaxing time at Mycenae.

For once, though, the early start really paid off. I mean, usually it's nice to beat the heat of the day, etc... etc.., but when we got the Mycenae, we were told that it was free admission today: Free Museum day in Greece. Sweet! But, that's means it's free for everyone else too. Holy crap! There were already four large tour busses in the parking lot. And more were arriving by the minute. Pretty sly on the part of the tour companies, I thought. They were making extra money today. So we hurried into the site. And shook our heads at the folly of thinking the 20 people at our hotel were going to make a difference.

Grave cirles, with tour buses in the distance

Mycenae ruled the Greek world back in the day. They were the superpower after Knossos collapsed (we'll get to that in 100 pages or so), and we were stoked to check it out. According to myth Mycenae was ruled by Agamemnon, the dude led the Greeks against Troy in the Trojan war. History!

The site was pretty neat. Lin-wei kept talking about art history on this trip, and one of the things she remembered from the books was the famous Lions Gate of Mycenae. We were able to get a decent picture before the flood of tourists arrived. Keeping just ahead of the ever-increasing numbers, we got through most of the site. We saw grave circles where they dug up tons of jewels, we saw the throne room and the rest of the fortress, and we saw great bee-hive tombs. One of the last stops was the cistern of the fortress....

FLASHBACK

The guidebook instructed us not to miss a tour of the cistern (where they stored water in case of sieges) of the ancient city. Carved into the mountainside, stairs led down to a large water reservoir, and that sounded super-cool. The book warned us to bring a flashlight, however. On the ferry ride to Aegina (and each subsequent ferry ride we took thereafter) there were these short dudes trying to sell trinkets and junk to the passengers. Watches, binoculars, etc... So Lin-Wei flagged one down as asked for a flashlight. He produced a cigarette lighter. So she tried again, making hand gestures. He then produced a small flashlight that itself produced a weak blue-colored beam. She talked him down to 4 euros (probably worth 1, maybe). After she bought it, he then showed her that it opened at the middle and also became... a cigarette lighter.

FLASHFORWARD

Wielding the Blue Beam of Weakness, we began our decent to the cistern. After about 10 stairs it became pitch-black, and all our "flashlight" did was annoy us. After a while our eyes did adjust a bit, and we could see a bit further. But we had to take each step one at a time, adjust, and see where the next one was. So eventually we had to give up, cause we didn't want to die or anything. We still hadn't been to the nude beach yet!

We were glad to see school kids for once

Going out was easier, and when we exited we were in luck. Heading in at that moment was about 20 school kids, all with flashlights and helmet lamps. Sweet! So we totally hitched ourselves to the end of their group, and we were able to get to the bottom. Unfortunately the powers that be had blocked of the cistern (probably so that tourists with crappy light sources wouldn't fall in and die, and miss the nude beaches). But it was still neat. The teachers had the kids turn out the lights and told a ghost story about how a kid had died down here in the darkness when he fell into the cistern. At the climax of the story they threw water on the group, and there was a chorus of screams. And that was just from me. On the way out some kids at the entrance were waiting to scare their friends. Since they were in the light, we could totally see them the whole way up, but we were in darkness, so they couldn't see us until we were right next to them. "Boo!" they shouted, then realized that we weren't with their group. And we weren't scared. And they frowned.

By this time there were about 30 large tour buses in the parking lot. Damn! We had refreshments at the snack shop, and Lin-Wei told me to meet her at the gift shop while she did what she does best. But after about 15min there was no Lin-Wei meeting me at the gift shop. I spent my time deleting old pictures on my camera so that I could take lots more pictures of piles of rock. Finally I started walking around, and I found her wandering the site. Here is our conversation:

Lin-Wei: There you are! Where were you? I was trying to find you!
Al: I was at the gift shop the whole time. Where were you?
Lin-Wei: I couldn't find the gift shop.
Al: But you told me to meet you there!
Lin-Wei: Yeah, but... I got lost.
Al: It was right by the snack shop. And the bathroom!
Lin-Wei: Whatever....

As we walked to our car, we saw that every car that had gotten there early like us was now parked in by 30 buses. Yikes! Somehow, though, we were at the end of the lot and we got to our car just as we were ABOUT to get parked in. We hauled ass out of there.

Al breaches the defenses

We then drove to Castle Larissa (medieval), , outside of Argos, which was also at the top of a mountain, and also free. This castle was totally cool. The site was in pretty good shape, but the amazing thing was that it wasn't regulated at all. It was totally free to check out, and there was no one else there. We got to explore the whole place on our own, climbing the walls and towers, etc... Very cool indeed, and peaceful. The views of the countryside were cool as well. But in case you were wondering... we won't be naming any kids Larissa. Though that is a cool name.

On the way back, our car got stopped by a herd of goats blocking the road. We waited for a while, but they wouldn't budge. One even wedged itself near the front tire, so I had to use my door to push it out of the way. They moved on finally, and we were off again.

Can you find the prettiest flower in this picture?

Our final pile of rocks we saw that day was at Tiryns. Andy told us to go to Argos to see the Cyclopean walls (so named by the ancients because the stones were so large, only a cyclops could lift them) but the only thing we found that was close to what he described was Tiryns, a few km away from Argos. The dude at the ticket booth said we only had 10min to see the site, so we hurried through. The rocks were indeed large. Lin-Wei really dug it, but I had about had my fill of piles of rocks that day. It was neat though. Thinking back, I would have enjoyed it a lot more if we had seen it earlier in the day. Building with those rocks was pretty damn impressive.

That night we had dinner at a nice place on the sea, where we met some nice friends who joined us for dinner. No email from the Hania hotel that night.

On our way back to our hotel room we got lost. Naphlion is a very vertical city (much like the Cinque Terre cities), with lots of narrow paths and stairways. So I got confused about where we were, and we had a nice, inadvertent tour of the city at night. Up and down about 1000 stairs. Fun.

A little culture next...