March 2020 – A Traveling Fool

March 29, 2020

Crete, the Minoans, the Labyrinth and the Minotaur

As mentioned in my last post, in addition to Akrotiri, another potential candidate for Atlantis has been Knossos on Crete. They were hit by an enormous tsunami when Thera erupted in roughly 1600 BC. There are numerous myths and legends associated with Knossos as well.

Our ship docked at Aghios Nikolaos on Crete. We were then driven to Knossos. Although the site had people living there as early as 7000 BC, it was when the Minoans built Knossos at about 2000 BC that it really began to flourish. By 1700 BC, it was a major city with a population of around 100,000.

There is evidence that Knossos still existed after the volcanic eruption and tsunami, but was not repopulated by the Minoans. The Mycenaeans moved in and took it over. The city ended up being totally destroyed in roughly 1300 BC. It isn’t clear as to why or by whom it was destroyed. But it does appear to have been set on fire by somebody.

The Palace is the main part that has been excavated and where we concentrated our exploration. We also concentrated on the Minoan period of habitation. This was where most of the myths and legends came into play.

King Minos, in Greek mythology, had Daedalus (the father of Icarus) construct a labyrinth in his palace to contain the Minotaur. The Minotaur was a man with the head of a bull which had been created when his mother (Minos’ queen, Pasiphae, as part of a curse placed upon her by Poseidon) mated with a magical white bull.

Because he was ticked off with Athens (King Minos didn’t seem to get along well with too many mortals or immortals) he had seven young men and seven young women from Athens sacrificed to the Minotaur every year. On one of those occasions, his daughter, Ariadne, assisted Theseus (one of the young men sent by Athens to be eaten by the Minotaur) in his quest to kill the Minotaur. She provided him with a ball of string so he could find his way back through the labyrinth. Theseus was successful in his quest and he and Ariadne ran off together (though some stories say he abandoned her once they escaped).

No actual labyrinth has ever been found. But some people speculate that the entire palace was Homer’s labyrinth. It is enormous and sprawling with hundreds of rooms, stairways, corridors and numerous levels.

In the far right of the first photo I have included with this post, you can see a double-bladed axe incised in one of the blocks of stone. This is called a labrys and is considered to be a symbol of a labyrinth. This symbol is carved on many blocks of stone all over the Palace at Knossos.

As for the Minotaur, the Minoans worshiped the bull. There are frescoes involving bulls in the Palace, including a large, charging bull near the North Entrance. A very famous fresco is in the room above the throne room of a man flipping over a bull while two women assist. Photos of both are included here.

Minoan columns were created from Cyprus trees, which were inverted to keep them from sprouting. This made the columns wider at the top than at the bottom – the opposite of Greek stone columns. Minoan columns were mostly painted red and mounted on round bases with round pillow-like capitals.

The throne room contained the original alabaster throne. Nobody is certain whether the throne was for a king or a priest or a priestess. Many think that the seat of the throne was clearly made for a female backside, so the priestess idea has become the leader.

I couldn’t get terribly close to it, but I personally didn’t see how the seat was made for a female instead of a male. It frankly looked uncomfortable for either gender. The flowing artwork on the walls featuring griffins has also been considered to be feminine.

When you look at the way humans were depicted in all of the frescoes, they all had the same hairdos and were dressed in just a little something around their waists, covering their buttocks and genitals. The only distinction between genders being that women were portrayed as milky white while men were portrayed as more of a dark red. All of the frescoes, whatever the subject, were colorful with undulating, curved lines. In short – feminine.

Across from the throne room was what appeared to be a ritual bath to the original archaeologists. But later archaeologists had determined that, since there isn’t any kind of a drain, it was more likely an aquarium. I photographed it from a floor above, so the opening you see to the right in the photo is into the throne room.

To the south of the throne room was where several snake goddesses were found. Most were broken into pieces, but two were in good enough shape to be repaired and put on exhibit in the Heraklion Museum.

One of my favorite parts of the Palace was the Queen’s Hall with its dolphin frescoes and the nearby Hall of the Double Axes. This was a double indoor/outdoor chamber that also contained a throne. This throne was not original, however, but a replica. It looks very similar to the throne in the throne room despite the idea that this room was supposed to have been the king’s.

We headed out by the North Entrance, taking a good look at the drainage system as we went. I know. Exciting stuff, right? But a drainage system dating back roughly 4,000 years to a time when hardly any other civilization had one is actually pretty interesting.

In nearby Heraklion, I spent some time in Plateia Venizelou Square with a Venetian fountain and an old Venetian church. The archaeological museum was by the Venetian wall and a bit of a walk from the square. But it was back towards where the bus would be picking us up.

We went back to the ship to have lunch. Mark and I had gyros by the pool and then went back to shore for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day to be on the island of Crete.

Next time – the Island of Rhodes

March 22, 2020

Thera (Santorini) and Atlantis

Santorini is the fairy tale island that you always see in the posters for Greece – white washed buildings with bright blue roofs clinging to the cliffs. Santorini is actually a volcano and the cliffs are the rim of the caldera.

Originally (and still officially) called Thera (or Thira), the island erupted in about 1600 – 1500 BC at the height of the Minoan civilization. It was one of the greatest volcanic explosions known in history. Its massive eruption was thought to have likely been a direct cause of the end of the Minoan civilization and is considered to possibly be what was behind Plato’s story of Atlantis.

Although currently classified as a dormant volcano, Thera has had a certain amount of activity happening under water. It has also pushed up a volcanic island in the middle of the caldera (which broke the surface in the 1700s). This island, Nea Kameni, has erupted three times in the 20^th century – the last time in 1950 – and Santorini experienced a nasty earthquake in 1956. The current active crater on Nea Kameni gives off steam and carbon dioxide. In 2012, Nea Kameni pushed itself up even further, giving off a few tremors as it did so.

As for Atlantis, there has long been two main candidates – Knossos on Crete and Akrotiri on Santorini. Both were Minoan. While Crete experienced an enormous tsunami, Akrotiri was buried under volcanic ash, much like Pompeii.

Akrotiri can be traced as far back as the fifth millennium BC. By the third millennium BC, it had grown enormously into an important trade route. The streets were paved and included an extensive drainage system. They had hot and cold running water, high quality pottery and jewelry. Other arts and crafts also flourished. They were considered to be quite sophisticated. All of this ended with the eruption of Thera.

Many scientific studies of Akrotiri’s seismological, volcanic and archaeological evidence has led more and more people to believe that it could match Plato’s description. Since I am fascinated by ancient civilizations, I was very interested in seeing Akrotiri. An excursion was offered, but not enough people wanted to go. So it was canceled and those of us that were interested were left with seeing some of the items from the excavation in a museum in the town of Fira.

The port at Santorini was much too small for even a smaller cruise ship like ours. So our ship parked itself next to Nea Kameni and we went down to the 2^nd deck to climb onboard a tender to take to the harbor at Ormos Anthinios. There we met a bus that zig-zagged its way up the side of the caldera and drove past Fira on its way to Oia.

Oia is the town on all of the posters and postcards. It is quite beautiful as well as somewhat disturbing for someone who is not a fan of heights. You can see what I mean when you look at the photos.

Although it was in existence prior to Venetian rule (starting in 1207), there doesn’t seem to be much known about Oia prior to that date. It has always clung to the cliffs of the rim of the caldera. For a time, it was a fishing village. The 1956 earthquake heavily damaged several of the buildings and the population fell to slightly over 300 people. But, with the rise in tourism, it has since risen to roughly 1,500.

After taking a look at the lovely Church of Panagia on the town square, we walked all the way to the end of the island to the remains of the fort. Then we sauntered back at our own pace, taking tons of photos along the way. It was a very hot day, so I stopped for ice cream part of the way back, sitting in the air conditioning by a window inside of the café and watching other tourists go by.

There really isn’t much there other than the village itself and how photogenic it is. It truly is a photographer’s paradise. It is tough to take a bad picture. There is also just the one main pedestrian only street, so if you don’t venture too far from it, it is also difficult to get lost.

From Oia, we traveled back to Fira where he had free time to do what we wanted and get back to the ship on our own, making sure that we knew when the last tender was leaving. I started my time at the museum that contained some of the items excavated from Akrotiri – the Museum of Prehistoric Thera. They had some frescoes transported along with their walls, plus pottery, and such items as incense burners.

Once I had finished with the museum, I climbed back up to the town square and sat down, looking out at the beautiful water, to contemplate what I wanted to do next. Did I want to try to join some of the others from our group for a large and leisurely lunch there, or return to the ship and have a free (already included in the price of the cruise) and equally leisurely lunch there.

Some of the other members of group came by and asked me what I planned to do. Some of them were feeling cheap (or should I say “frugal”) too, so we climbed to the top of Fira to get the cable car down to the old harbor at Skala Fira. Then we took the tender back to the ship and had lunch on the outside terrace on Deck #5. After lunch, we continued to sit in the shade on that terrace and stare at Santorini while the other folks from our ship sat on a terrace at Fira, staring down at our ship.

Next time – Crete, the Minoans, the Labyrinth and the Minotaur.

March 15, 2020

Istanbul, Ephesus and an Earthquake

Our first two days on the cruise consisted of stops at Istanbul and Kasudasi (Ephesus) in Turkey. Although I had been on a two week tour of Turkey which included time in both cities just a few years earlier, I was looking forward to returning. I had really enjoyed Turkey when I was there before. It was a great country with friendly people, an amazing history, and some fascinating things to see and do that were quite unique.

I had the option of signing up for tours of my choice or just hanging out in each place on my own. We had set sail for Istanbul as soon as we left Lavion and arrived shortly after breakfast. I had signed up for a tour that included Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.

When I had been in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople and, even earlier, Byzantium) the last time, I had been quite ill by the time we were touring those locations. They had also been experiencing a monsoon-like rain while we were at Topkapi Palace which greatly limited my getting around that particular location. This time, the tour began at the Palace.

On my previous visit, I had spent the majority of my time in the harem. I had never seen a harem before and doubted strongly that I would ever get the opportunity to tour one again. This one was famous, enormous, and had been in use from the 15^th century to the early 20^th century. So, armed with a map showing roughly 90 rooms (out of what is believed to be about 400 rooms total) open to the public, I had explored every inch of it that I could. As wonderful as it was to see, I didn’t have much time left to see much else other than the area with the Sacred Relics.

This time, I headed straight for the Imperial Treasury. One of the prize pieces in the treasury was the Topkapi Dagger. This dagger had been made in 1747 by the Sultan Mahmud I for the Shah of Persia. But the Shah was murdered before he could receive his present, so the dagger stayed at the Palace. It was featured in the film Topkapi during which a heist of the dagger took place.

There is also an enormous diamond called the Spoonmaker’s Diamond. Nobody knows the origins of the diamond, but there have been several legends put forth regarding who may have owned and why they parted with it.

The collection holds several more pieces of jewelry, solid gold candlesticks encrusted with diamonds, the throne of Mahmud I (layered with emeralds and pearls), various weapons decorated with jewels, and the right hand and forearm of John the Baptist encased in gold.

With all of the pieces of him that seem to be on display around the world, I wonder how much of John the Baptist could be left in the tomb that was supposedly his in Egypt. This is one of three alleged right hand and forearms of John in existence and the number of heads claimed by different places as his is staggering.

On my previous visit, I had gone into the part of the Palace containing the Sacred Relics. Most of them had to do with Muhammad, but there was also a room that contained what were reported to be Abraham’s Pot, Joseph’s Turban, Moses’ Staff, and David’s Sword.

This time I didn’t have nearly as much time at Topkapi as during the previous visit, so I wandered around the different courtyards and spent a little time sitting out on the terrace that overlooked the Bosphorus before I needed to rejoin the rest of the group for lunch.

After lunch, we sort of waved at the Hippodrome as we went by on our way to the Blue Mosque. We didn’t stay there long either. But the interior with its tiles and domes is the main thing to see.

Onwards to Hagia Sophia with which I had fallen madly in love when I was last in Istanbul. Built in 532-537 AD over an earlier 4^th century church, the building survived many earthquakes over the centuries and the Ottomans as well. Instead of destroying the church, the Ottomans simply covered up the mosaics and turned it into a mosque. Now that the building is a museum, the mosaics have been uncovered and they are glorious.

This trip, we didn’t have any free time in Hagia Sophia to be able to go exploring on our own, so I didn’t get to go up the ramp to the gallery. Instead of stairs, the building still has its original 1500 year old ramps to enable movement from floor to floor. I had really felt like I was traveling back in time with those ancient ramps and felt sad that I didn’t have the time to revisit them or the wonderful mosaics in the gallery.

One of my dream trips would be to return to Istanbul, spend a lot of time at the Hagia Sophia and maybe tour the harem again. Then take the Orient Express from Istanbul to Venice, spending some time in Venice before heading home.

From Hagia Sophia, we continued to the Grand Bazaar. I would have preferred to stay at Hagia Sophia, but…. It was not nearly as crowded or higgledy-piggledy as the one in Cairo had been. It was more shops than stalls. I had really loaded myself up with Turkish tchotchkes on my prior trip. So, other than a small package of pistachio Turkish Delight, I refrained.

Our little group of seven sat together at dinner again. Then we went to the show. It was a rock’n’roll show which might have been why we missed the earthquake. Honestly, there was a 6.9 magnitude (severe) earthquake in the Aegean between Greece and Turkey at roughly 9:30pm. Canakkale (where ancient Troy was located) suffered quite a bit of damage and a couple hundred injuries. There were buildings destroyed and people injured all over Greece and Turkey (and even some in Bulgaria).

We were heading to the Dardanelles from the Sea of Marmara when it struck. Maybe it was the fact that we were on a ship and/or that we were not yet out in the Aegean itself that lessened the impact of the initial earthquake and its several aftershocks (one of which was 5.3 and struck around midnight).

I think it was just a matter of timing. Had it hit right as we came out of the Dardanelles into the Aegean at Canakkale, it could have been very unpleasant, especially if there had been a Tsunami associated with it.

We weren’t docking at Kasudasi until around 3pm, so we could sleep late and do shipboard activities until then. Not wanting to disturb anybody, I didn’t knock on any doors for breakfast. But Mark caught up with me at the stairs (we were only one deck away from where they did the breakfast and lunch buffets), so we had breakfast together. He ran off to the casino and I headed for a Greek cooking demonstration. We were able to sample the foods they cooked and they gave us recipes so we could make the dishes at home.

At lunch time, out by the pool, they made a seafood dish with mussels, shrimp, crab, rice, various vegetables and some spices in a giant wok. It was delicious. Although I watched them make it, I haven’t been able to completely duplicate it (likely because I didn’t necessarily recognize what all the vegetables and spices were).

We arrived in Kasudasi at 3:30pm. I had signed up for the tour of Ephesus and the Virgin Mary’s house. This was where the Apostle John had brought Mary to live after Jesus entrusted her to his care. She had a tiny stone house way up on a mountain near Ephesus. We visited there first. I really liked the atmosphere of the place. It was very serene and peaceful.

Then it was Ephesus. I had been there before too and thought it was one of the coolest ancient Greek/Roman cities I had ever seen (originally built in the 10^th century BC). When I had been there before, Trajan’s Fountain had been in scaffolding for some restoration. It was done this time and I could see it in all its glory.

For about three years, the Apostle Paul had lived in a dwelling that had been just behind the Library of Celsus — an exquisitely beautiful building down at the end of the steeply sloping street we took down into the town from the Agora and past the Odeon from the entrance. It was in Ephesus where we began to hear about the earthquake of the night before. It had been felt quite strongly there.

On my prior trip I had begun to run out of time by the time I got to the theatre. This time I made it a priority. It had an estimated seating capacity of 25,000 and is thought to have been the largest theatre in the classical world. It certainly seemed to me to be the largest I had ever seen. Paul preached at the theatre. He got around quite a bit before he got arrested, hauled off to Rome and ultimately beheaded.

On our way back to the ship, we stopped off at a carpet place. We were given a delicious tea and shown loads and loads of carpets. Did I resist? Not 100%. I ended up buying a very intricately woven small wall hanging. I figured that it went well with the curved Turkish dagger I purchased on my earlier trip to Turkey.

We didn’t arrive back at the ship until shortly after 9pm and went to a dinner buffet that was open until 10pm. Slept very well for another night. The gentle rocking that sometimes happens on a ship was working its magic on me.

Next time – Thera (Santorini) and Atlantis

March 8, 2020

Agamemnon and Mycenae

As with most of Greece, there is a lot of myth mixed with history when it comes to Mycenae. Mycenae was supposedly founded by Perseus, the slayer of Medusa (the woman with snakes for hair that would turn a person to stone if they gazed upon her face). He married Andromeda (after freeing her from the rock to which she was chained after her mother ticked off Poseidon) and founded the Mycenaean dynasty. Its heyday was roughly from 1510 to 1250 BC but the entire period from 1600 to 1100 BC in Greek history is termed as Mycenaean.

We began our visit with a large, circular tomb known as the Treasury of Atreus. Although named after Atreus (and sometimes even Agamemnon) the tomb dates back to an earlier age.

Atreus was the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Menelaus became the King of Sparta and husband of Helen of Troy. We all know about how Helen ran off with (or was kidnapped by) Paris and started the whole Trojan War. Agamemnon was King of Mycenae by that time and vowed to help his brother get his wife back.

After commanding the entire Greek forces against the Trojans, Agamemnon returned home to Mycenae only to be murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra’s lover. In the Mycenae Museum, we could see a replica of what has been referred to as the Mask of Agamemnon (the original was in Athens). It was found on the face of a body unearthed in one of the tombs surrounding Mycenae. The archeologist at the time figured it had to belong to Agamemnon. But more recently, it has been dated to about 300 years before the Trojan War, so too old to have belonged to Agamemnon. Several other artifacts from in and around Mycenae are also in the museum.

Once again, it was necessary to climb a mountain. In the photo I have of Mycenae from before I began to make my way up, you can see the tiny figures of the people who were snaking their way up switchback trails to the top. The main entrance (and you had to climb a ways to get to it) was the Lion Gate. It was erected in the 13^th century BC.

The area in front of the gate narrowed in order to limit the number of people who could enter at once. The gate was quite massive. The walls were referred to as “Cyclopean”. This was because the blocks of stone used to build them were so enormous that many felt only the race of giants known as the Cyclops could have built them.

Grave Circle A (which was discovered first) dates to the 16^th century BC, while Circle B is the older and dates to the 17^th – 16^th centuries. Both Grave Circles contained shaft graves. It was in Circle A that the mask originally believed to have been Agamemnon’s was discovered. The artifacts from Circle A showed a greater wealth than those from Circle B. After Circle A, the kings were buried in tholos (round) tombs like the Treasury of Atreus.

Although the tomb of Clytemnestra has been found, no tomb of Agamemnon has turned up as of yet. Since he was murdered by Clytemnestra’s lover at her behest, it could be that Agamemnon’s body was simply disposed of to get it out of the way. Could be a topic for “Expedition Unknown” to investigate.

The Palace was at the top of the acropolis. Not much was there, just the low remains of a few walls. I could tell, however, that it had been a pretty large building.

The view of the area below was quite commanding. The site has shown evidence of continuous occupation since roughly 5000 BC.

I sat down on a large boulder at the very top, caught my breath, drank some water, looked around and rested a while before starting down the other side. Everyone else shot past me and down the other side quickly. I seemed to be the only one interested in savoring the experience. Granted, it was a very hot day. But I had on my Tilley hat (the kind the archaeologists use) and loads of sun screen plus cotton (not synthetic) clothing. So I was fine.

A relatively short walk down from the Palace, I came across a cistern. This was enclosed within the citadel walls. I went part of the way down the ancient steps into the cistern. It was very cool and pleasant down there, but I was also totally alone, so not too interested in disappearing and not being discovered until the next archaeological dig.

I came back up and headed for the North Gate. This was the back door to the citadel. It once had a double wooden door with a sliding bolt to lock it. Shortly before taking a path back around to the Lion Gate, I came across the remains of what looked like had been a pretty large, wealthy home called the House of the Columns. I also came across smaller artist workshops.

The next location on our journey was the small town of Epidavros. It was believed to have been the birthplace of Apollo’s son, Askepios, who was a healer. It became the most celebrated healing center in the classical world.

We visited its largely intact 14,000 seat theatre. The acoustics were amazing. A match stuck center stage could be clearly heard from any seat in the theatre. The construction of the theatre in limestone (instead of the more frequently used marble) was thought to mute the murmur of the crowd (low-frequency sound) while amplifying the high-frequency sounds onstage. It is still used for theatrical performance and occasional acoustic concerts.

Heading back towards Athens, we crossed the Corinthian Canal. It was quite narrow.

That night we had an optional dinner with loads of Greek food, Greek music and Greek dancing. Then we had a few hours of sleep before heading for our cruise ship at Lavion.

The ship was a small one by usual cruise standards – 800 passengers. Mark, Maureen, Chris and I all had our rooms in a line. We had each gotten a single outside cabin with a lovely, large window. Barbara and Roberta were in a shared room not too far from the rest of us. We could easily meet up before heading off somewhere.

We had the early seating for dinner that night at 6:30pm. We were seated together. After dinner, we decided to try the show, so we went to the early seating of that too. It was much better than I had anticipated and we all had a good time. Afterwards, I fell into bed and slept like a baby.

Next time – cruising to Istanbul & Ephesus and an earthquake

March 1, 2020

Olympia & Nauplia

After we arrived at our hotel in Olympia and had dinner, we were treated to some Ouzo. I only took a little sip to be polite as I had tried it before and knew it had a strong licorice taste to it. I don’t like licorice. Our Tour Director noticed and I was soon treated with a glass of Metaxa instead. It was like an orange flavored cognac. Very tasty.

Our hotel at Olympia was easy walking distance to the ruins of ancient Olympia which once consisted of over 70 temples plus monuments, treasuries, altars and statues. It was also about the only place on this trip where no mountains needed to be climbed to get to it. It is said that the site had been occupied as early as 1500 BC with evidence that an earlier version of the Temple of Zeus existed by 1000 BC.

The Temple of Zeus once contained a ginormous statue of Zeus made out of gold and ivory, said to be 43 feet high. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Good ole Theodosius II had the temple destroyed in 426 AD (several years after he had the Temple of Apollo at Delphi destroyed). Nobody seems to know what happened to the statue of Zeus. Not much was left of the temple except for its base.

Olympia suffered numerous earthquakes and floods after that until it had pretty much been buried under alluvial deposits of mud. In 1766, the ancient site was pinpointed, but it wasn’t until some French men decided to go digging around there in about 1826, that the remains of the Temple of Zeus were discovered.

Our group walked on over after breakfast. I felt excited to be able to see where the ancient Olympic Games had taken place from the 8^th century BC (776 BC) to the 4^th century AD. There were numerous sporting events held around Greece in other places, such as the Pythian Games and Panhellenic Games to name just a couple. But the Olympics ended up being the greatest because of their worldwide revival in the late 19^th century.

Upon arriving at the archeological site, we first encountered the gymnasium. This was a training facility for sports. The word “gymnasium” was taken from “gymnos” which meant “naked”. Only adult males were allowed in the facility. Athletic competitions back then were in the nude. Again, only adult males were allowed to participate or attend.

The Palaestra was a portion of the gymnasium where athletes practiced wrestling, boxing and jumping. In Olympia, one of the areas of the building appears to have been a bowling alley. This is based on it being quite similar to a place in Pompeii that still had the heavy balls used there.

Then we came across the remains of the Temple of Zeus, which come from a version of the temple that was built in the 5^th century BC (and was the version with the colossal statue of Zeus).

One of my favorites was the Temple of Hera. It was built in the 6^th century BC and was the oldest temple at Olympia. It also has three very beautiful columns standing that caught the light quite nicely when I was photographing it. Whenever the Olympic Games are being held, the Olympic flame is ignited using a parabolic mirror to focus the rays of the sun in front of the location of the altar in the Temple of Hera at Olympia.

The Nymphaeum was kind of like an ancient water park. Traditionally, this was where the nymphs dwelled. It was an area (often a grotto) full of pools and fountains. The one at Olympia isn’t that much to look at now, but I included a photo of it anyway. One can imagine the cascades and spouts of water.

This was next to the Philippeion, which was the only temple dedicated to a human at Olympia. The human was Philip of Macedon – Alexander the Great’s father. He had statues of himself and his family (including Alexander) erected inside of the circular building. They, like the statue of Zeus, were made from gold and ivory.

An outdoor corridor led to an archway. On the other side of the archway was the original Olympic stadium. Once I went through the arch, I was amazed to find that the stadium consisted of a dirt track area with gently sloping grass on each side for the spectators to gather and watch. I have to admit to being disappointed. But that was the way this stadium always was – just dirt and grass.

In the museum were several statues and friezes. A couple of the statues were fairly famous. One was the Nike of Paionios. She was found near the Temple of Zeus. Another was Hermes and the Infant Dionysos. They had been inside of the Temple of Hera. we could take as many photos as we wanted, so I snapped several.

After lunch we left for Nauplia, passing the walls of the town where the Cyclops was said to have been from. At Nauplia, we checked into the hotel then walked down to the waterfront to take a boat out to a small fortress on an island. The island fortress of Bourtzi looked like a submarine, which was interesting since submarines didn’t exist at the time it was built or for several hundreds of years after.

We were the only people at the fort at the time and we explored it all the way to the flag on top. It had a lot of interesting corners and some beautiful bougainvillea climbing the walls. We took the boat back and had dinner at an outdoor restaurant from which we could see the crusader fortress on the mountain above. We had stuffed tomatoes, Greek salad, lamb and potatoes, and some ice cream with some very sweet cake. We also each had a carafe of wine to ourselves. Mine was a very tasty rosé.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel the long way through town. Not sure if our tour director led us that way so we could see more of the town, or so we would sober up a bit before we reached the hotel.

Next time – Mycenae, home of Agamemnon.