Mycenae 1600-1100BC and more of Nafpoli

(This idol is from the museum in Mycenae, it is an idol with a hammer in his hand trying to scare away the bad guys.  I thought it looked like ET) 

June 5th - Monday day 10 of Greek tour. 

We started the day early (to beat the heat and other tour buses) to visit Mycenae - an ancient city (of mostly ruins) from around 1500BC.  In the city the oldest and largest tomb was 3300 years old.  The style of the tomb was a beehive tomb made for, most likely, royalalty.  The great historical fact of this tomb was that it has never collapsed in over its 3300 year history.  This tomb was intact, but the bodies and treasures had been looted by the Ottomans, so there were no artifacts found.  Luckily, other tombs on the site were filled with treasures from the 13th and 14th century BC.   At this Mycenae city, there were many grave sites found around the residential areas and the tomb areas were called - Necropolis- the city of the dead. 

Our tour guide for the day - Patty- wove a wonderful story of Mycenae for us.  3500 years ago, it was a very powerful and rich city.  While the site was large, excavations are only about 10% done.  I didn’t imagine it until I was here, but just imagine that Greece’s history is so long and rich and there are so many places to excavate.  Then they have to decide what to do with the things they find.  Things stay preserved better under the ground.  Back to Mycenae, it is one of the oldest Bronze Age civilizations in Europe.  This was the famed city that fought the 10 year Trojan war with Troy.  Homer wrote about this in 8th century BC.  One other interesting part of the site was the Lions gate, which was built in 13th century bc. It is the oldest and  biggest statue that has never collapsed in Europe.  

After touring the very interesting museum at Mycenae, we walked around the site for a while, then headed back to Nafplio.  The rest of the afternoon was free to do what we wanted.  I hate to admit it, but I was tired!  Christine and I sat at a seaside restaurant for lunch, writing our blog and relaxing.  Then we wandered the touristy shops for a while and wound our way back to our hotel to rest, clean up and do more blogging.  If I came back to Nafplio, there is a huge castle on a hill (900 steps to get there), that I would like to visit.  It also had beautiful beaches with a very relaxed atmosphere.  

Last but not least, we went out to dinner to eat another traditional meal and listen to some traditional music from the 1.2 million Greeks who were forced back to Greece in the 1920’s, after living in Turkey or other parts of Asia Minor for centuries.   Apparently there was a population exchange (an uprooting) of people’s depending on their heritage and religion.  It was not popular with either side. 

After tonight we only have 3 nights of our tour left….onward tomorrow to the archeological site of Epidauros, then on to the Island of Hydros.  

Mary 

The pictures above and below are the entrance to the 3300 year old beehive tomb.

The picture above and the 2 below are from the inside of this massive tomb. 

Above Christine and my shadows are casting into this other beehive tomb.  Below are the shaft tombs where all the treasures were found. 

Terra Cotta baby feeder (bottle), from approx 3500BC.

Horse and carriage with 2 riders from approx 1300BC found in Mycenae.

The pictures top and bottom are the famous Lions Gate in Mycenae. 

Christine conquering the hill climb. 

Excavations of another necropolis (graveyard).

Here we are exiting out the back door - the north gate- of Mycenae.   For Rick Steve’s fans, he promotes Europe thru the back door - so finding things and places most people don’t go to.  

Monument in Nafpoli Greece to honor the French people for helping them in the revolution. 

More steps…. We love it! 

Graffiti worm in Nafpoli.

Nafpoli Harbor 

 

I loved these flowers in our courtyard of the hotel in Nafplio. 

Christine and I are getting ready to go out to dinner with our tour group friends 

The next 3 pictures are from our dinner out in the older section of Nafplio.  The trio that sang for us were very good.  The older man made the instruments, the tiny one was to be able to hide the instruments during a time when this style of music was outlawed.  The woman sang and played the spoons and other percussion instruments.   We all had a great time. 

Castle on the hill on our last night in Nafplio.