Mycenae and Athens

17th - 27th Jan 2003

We stayed for a week at Marion Dassis's guest house in Mikines. Our room had both a radiator and a fan heater, plus a fully waterproof roof. You could even stand up straight in it - much more comfortable than a tent! Marion is from Canada so communication was easy and she made us very welcome. Tel 2751076385 or 6944688576 if you want a good place to stay in Mikines.

We spent a couple of days washing ourselves and our clothes, climbed the nearest hill (500m above the village was quite an effort - walking muscles just aren't the same as cycling muscles) and made a shopping foray to the nearest town, Argos.

Then it was time to get the bus to Athens, hire a car, and brave the Athens traffic to pick up Juliette's parents from the airport and drive through Athens and back to Mycenae. We spent the next four days exploring the area of the Peloponesse around Mycenae, before heading back to Athens for two days there.

Here we are by the Lion Gate at Mycenae:

And here we are exploring the passageway that leads down several tens of meters to a "cistern" or spring:

Next day we visited Nafplio, a seaside resort. Here we climbed an improbable number of steps to the Palamidhi Fortress. Again the best bit was the cistern (Ju and I are cavers you understand).

The Palamidhi fortress is rambles all over the top of a small hill, this is a 270° panorama:

Next day was Epidaurus, famous for its theatre and for Asclepius, the God of healing:

On our final day in the Peloponnese we went to Corinth and spent much of the day exploring the Arcocorinth, a massively fortified hilltop. Most of it is medieval but there are older remains too. We walked around the 2km of perimeter walls, but naturally the cistern with its 4th century BC arch was our favourite bit...

Then it was over the Corinthian canal and into Athens. We spent two days there, "doing" the sights and eating well in the restaurants in the Plaka. Then sadly it was time for Jeanette and John to go home to the UK and we returned to Mikines to start pedaling again. Here we are in front of Erechtheion on the Acropolis:

And of course no description of Athens is complete without a Parthenon picture. This was taken in a rare moment of sunshine between the black clouds!

More pictures from Mycenae and Athens

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