We left Nafplion at 9 AM and the climbing was constant up to the ancient site of Mycenae, excavated by the discoverer of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann. You could see the destination looming before us on a distant hilltop:

The texture on this hilltop is Mycenae!

The Mycenaen kingdom was one of the most powerful in archaic Greece, meaning 1600-1200 B.C.! Many of the treasures we saw in the National Archeological Museum in Athens were discovered on this site.

Here is a short photo-essay of the Mycenae highlights:

June in the Tomb of Clytamenestra

Peter stands under the famous Lion’s Gate (1300 B.C.)

Detail of the Lions in Lion’s Gate

Amazing views from the walls of Mycenae

Descending to the cistern (99 steps, 50 feet deep)

Sphinx in terra cotta at the site’s museum (1200 B.C.)

We spent over 2 hours at the Mycenae site and became rather chilled – our weather has been cloudy, cool and showery for 2 days. Good for intense climbing, bad for lingering! So we forged ahead to the next site –Nemea – that was also serving as our picnic lunch spot.

Nemea was another constant climb of about 22k, equivalent to the first climb to Mycenae. We were really hungry when we arrived! However, we were not this tired:

Greek stray dogs are at every site and are

cared for by staff and visitors alike

We had a great lunch of cheese, bread, olives and tomatoes, plus a super dessert of walnut preserves and yogurt! We loved the site, one of the few you can get up close and personal with the ruins. Nemea was a gathering spot for athletes to train and compete – their Games vied with Olympia’s for quality and notoriety. The museum had wonderful exhibits including ancient starting blocks and a video explaining their ingenious starting system for running races to ensure no runner could take advantage of an early start.

Best though was standing among ruins and columns made famous by the travel diaries of Revett (1766) – when at Yale I wrote a paper on Greek Revival architecture in America, and I actually was able to use the original travel diaries of Revett and Stuart in the Beinecke Rare Book library. I distinctly remember these columns at Nemea as a sketch in the diary! What a blast:

June worships the original Doric columns at the

Temple of Zeus Nemea (600 B.C.)

We left the site with about 30k to go to reach Corinth and our hotel by the Corinthian seaside. As we had spent the entire day climbing, we knew the day would be going “downhill” for the remainder. Here’s what Corinth looked like as we entered the outskirts of the city: