Epidavros: Ancient Center of Healing

Tuesday morning, June 6, Day 11 of the tour

Ancient Jenga, anyone? 

Tuesday morning we had to leave beautiful Napflio after one last peaceful and delicious breakfast on the upper terrace at Marianna's Pension. Their homemade orange pie (extremely moist cake) was to die for, and their home grown oranges were so juicy and sweet.

At our next stop, this orange juice stand reminded me of the delicious oranges at Marianna's. 

My standards for oranges have been reset.

As soon as we arrived at Epidavros, our guide Pati led us directly to the famous amphitheater, beating the kids from EF Tours whose guide took them to the museum first 😁

The entrance gates have been rebuilt, as you can tell from the color of the stone.

You may have seen the Rick Steves episode where he shows off the amazing acoustics designed into this theater. Mary has.

I hope you can play this video of our guide Patti demonstrating the exceptional acoustics of the theater.

Mary heads for the high seats.

These steps were excavated from under layers of dirt, swept down from the hills above over centuries.

Mary models the VIP seats for ancient Greek nobles. You can tell the rich people sat here, 

because there are seat backs, and even arm rests on the aisles.

Chillin' at the top with Ella and John.

For scale: A friend centerstage as seen from the top.

Kyle tells a joke. We all heard it!

Celebrating at the bottom.

These ancient drains still work.

Next stop: the museum and the rest of the archaeological site of the center for healing dedicated to Asklepios, son of Apollo and the god of healing.

Patti explained the mythology behind Asklepios and the snake 

that is a symbol of medicine, even in the modern world. 

The statue is so white because it's a copy of the real one in the national museum in Athens.

Asklepios was believed to be the only god who could raise the dead. He had the power to go to Hades' underworld, pick up a dead soul with his staff, and bring them back up to the world of the living. Doctor, anyone?

Snakes were also believed to be able to travel between the upper and lower worlds, 

representing both life and death.

Real medical devices from 400-300 BC.

This column "capital" is the most intact and ornate Corinthian style capital ever found in Greece. Since it never broke, archaeologists assume it was an extremely valuable offering to Asklepios, brought by a very rich person who wanted healing, and never actually sat atop a column. It's so well preserved from being buried under the dirt for centuries.

Outside we walked through the remains of the Temple of Asklepios and other structures from the ancient healing center.

The Jenga joke was about the amazing accomplishment of archaeologists to be able to reconstruct ancient artifacts like these temple columns. Always the whiter stone is new, and the darker parts are what they dug up.

Ancient sinks. A fellow traveler asked: "when did they start making them smaller?" 

(Little joke about European bathrooms).

From Epidavros our very careful driver Giorgos navigated again through the mountains to Metohi, where we would catch the ferry to Hydra Island, our next stop. 

- Christine