These circular graves would originally have had a roof, but that has fallen in a long time ago. A commoner would not be buried here; it would be reserved for royalty. In my next post I will be sharing an even more impressive grave, the so-called tomb of Agamemnon
In my last post I shared a photo of the Lion’s Gate in Mycenae. Today I’m sharing the view from the middle of the city you can see the walls and various paths.
And below is another gate. The North Gate is much more simple than the Lion Gate, but it’s still a massive portal with a huge little holding the gate together.
The Lion Gate was the main entrance of Mycenae. It is over 3200 years old. Agamemnon, the Mycenae king and hero in the Iliad by Homer would have walked through this gate to start his travels to fight in Troy, and it was in Mycenae that upon returning from surviving a 10 year war in Troy he was murdered by his wife.
It is a massive structure and a remarkable feeling to trace the footsteps of people that have featured so much in the Greek epics.
At first I thought this was an old tank, and I was wondering how it ended up in the middle of a field somewhere in Greece. I then realised that it’s just an old grader of sorts. But I still have no idea how it ended up there in the middle of that field?
The Church Of Saint Nectarios in Aegina is a surprisingly modern building. It was built in the 1970’s, but its history goes further back than that – the ministry dates back from the early 1900’s.
It is a lovely quiet and peaceful place to wonder around, or to sit and contemplate in the shaded walkways. The monastery was built in 1904, you can easily visit the ministry by climbing the stairs at the back of the main building, and that is where you can find the relics of Saint Nectarios. Saint Nectarios is a well-known Greek saint, and when you visit the much smaller ministry it can get a little more crowded with many people visiting the relics.
I love the pastel terracotta colours of the buildings, they feel so much cooler in the hot Greek weather.
No, I am not posting a picture of a toilet. This cistern supplied water to the ancient city of Mycenae around 1600 BCE. It collected water from a spring and sent it under the city for use. You can still walk quite far through the tunnel under the city
We found this old Roman footbridge on one of our many side-journeys while driving around the Peloponnese in Greece. It’s called the Arkadiko Bridge, and was built in Mycenaean times, approx 1300 BC. That’s over 3300 years ago, and it’s still standing (there are 4 such-brides in the Peloponnese. It is also one of the oldest arch bridges in the world, and is still in use! I wonder if the bridge-builders though that over 3000 years layer there would still be traffic over it.
Do you want to watch a show in the oldest theatre in the world? Then this is the pace to go to. The Odeon of Herodes Atticus is perched on the side of the ancient Acropolis in Athens. It was built in 161, and was eventually renovated in 1950. Its not quite as old as its neighbour, the Theatre of Dionysus which has been around since the 4 century BCE.
The theatre is still open for shows, (you can buy tickets here).
The Temple of Hephaistos is one of two original buildings in the Ancient Agora in Athens. The other is the Church of the Holy Apostles. Hephaestus was the god of metal working, craftsmanship, and fire; essentially the god of engineers, and I find it somewhat amusing that the building dedicating the engineer is the one that survived!
Actually the building was used far beyond its original purpose, including as a Greek Orthodox Church, which partly explains its well-preserved state.
This is one of the many olives groves in Greece. We stumbled on this particular one because Google Maps insisted that there was a road between two towns, but as we quickly discovered, it started out as a road, then became a jeep track, and finally a thin path down into a farm somewhere. So while we got to see this wonderful olive grove, we were, in fact lost!
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