Category: Peloponnese

Mycenae

Revisted Mycenae after having read Pat Barker’s Silence of the Girls. Felt we now knew more about Agememnon and the site would be more meaningful. It’s an amazing place and I get a real sense of the past from being there. The beehive tombs are extraordinary pieces of architecture and it must have been so exciting to have discovered them.

  • Lion gate
  • Lion Gate Mycenae
  • Grave circle
  • Grave circle
  • Back gate to the citadel
  • Entrance to the beehive tomb of Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra
  • Ceiling of beehive tomb of Clytemnestra

The museum contains some good examples of pottery 3000 years old with descriptions of history of the period.

And lastly, we stayed overnight at a camperstop by a cafe just down the road from the site. Very friendly guy running the place. It would have been better if we’d spent less time on breakfast and got to the site earlier, but what a fabulous location

  • Eggs and avo on toast

Hiking the Loussios Gorge and Menalon Trail

Found an amazing gorge and hiking trail in the middle of the Peloponnese. Stayed at a camper stop at Taverna Koustenis, Dimitsana (evidently the birthplace of the Greek struggle for independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1821). Walked the first section of the Menalon Trail 9.5 miles, total ascents of 3,000 feet and visits to three monasteries ( one from 983AD built into the rock face now just ruins, and the other two still active. The monks at the Prodromou monastery provided coffee and loukoumi.

  • Spring flowers on the Menalon Trail
  • Philosophou monastery perched on the cliff
    Philosophou monastery perched on the cliff
  • Prodromou monastery built into the cliff face of the gorge
  • Prodromou monastery
  • Valerie in her wraparound at the monastery (women can’t wear trousers)
  • Front door of Podromou Monastery with bullet holes
  • Prodromou monastery

The Mani

Stayed at the campsite at Stoupa for a week and went on some great walks and a good bike ride. The countryside is fantastic for hiking but you have to watch out for paths on the map that disappear on the ground!

  • Pretty village of Agios Nikolaos
  • Guess who we met on our walk
  • Mountain tea at Kastania
  • Stifado with mushrooms – delicious!
  • Walking back to Kardamyli

Ancient Messini

Stadium at Messini

The site of ancient Messini was the former capital of the area founded in 371BC. It is north west of Kalamata in a beautiful location with a well preserved stadium and amphitheatre. It is not so well known as some of the other sites and had very few people. There is a small museum with several statues. Well worth visiting.

  • Stadium and gymnasium at Messini
  • Statue of Isis Pelagia (protector of sailors)
  • Marble statue of a priestess
  • Amphitheatre at Messini

Ferry Venice to Patras

We travelled on the Anek Superfast ferry which from Venice took a long time – 32 hours. But it was a pleasant trip and as Anek is a Cretean company all the food was from Crete and surprisingly delicious.

The ferry was of course late and didn’t get to Patras until 1am. We’d decided to go to a campsite 30 minutes away rather than stay by the roadside and the man at Camping Kato Alissos couldn’t have been more helpful staying up until 2am to let us in!

Olive oil

There’s nothing tastes quite like Greek olive oil. We usually bring back a 5 litre can from wherever we go Spain, Italy etc but this time we got into olive oil in a big way. I’ve been reading about and starting to follow the Mediterranean and particularly the Cretan diet in which olive oil plays a big role. Everywhere in the Peloponnese people produce their own olive oil every year and use it liberally on just about everything!

I think the the best we tasted came from a lady who had a little shop that sold bits and pieces in the ‘top’ road in Methoni. Unfortunately by the time we used it we’d left so couldn’t get any more, but another year I’d buy straight from her.

Just signs for olive oil at the side of the road and it’s all delicious. So now we’ve got cans and bottles in every storage area and just have to find room for some wine.

Our olive oil coming off the belt at Kronion

Mycenae

What an amazing place. It’s 3500  years old built on a massive hill with walls several metres thick. Here’s the Lion Gate entrance.

Lion Gate

The excavations discovered these ‘beehive’ tombs with shafts going into the ground and a conical roof. This one is the tomb of Clymenestra surrounded by all sorts of beautiful artefacts. She murdered her husband Agamemnon  then she and her lover were then killed by her two children.

Entrance to ‘beehive’ tomb

Evidently the potters wheel was introduced in the 3rd millennium changing the nature of pottery and some of the pieces in the museum are wonderful.

(As an aside the owners of campsite where we’re now staying at Delphi who also produce olive oil have very old olive trees which they say are 3,000 years old!!!! )

They’re so beautiful!