Epidauros and Mycenae

Epidauros is famous for its amazingly well-preserved amphitheater. The acoustics are great. If you stand on the little circle on the center of the stage, your voice is amplified so that even the people seated in the last row can hear you.



Here's the view from the bottom, looking up.



On the same day, we visited Mycenae, northwest of Epidauros. Mycenae was the home of a Bronze Age civilization. It was a fortified city whose ruins are still visitable. The structure pictured below, the main entrance to the citadel, is known as Lion Gate.



Here's the valley view from a higher point.



Nearby is the confusingly named Treasury of Atreus, which was a tomb. The entrance shape looks similar to Etruscan tombs we visited near Rome, only it's at least twice as high. The lintel stone (the horizontal piece just above the doorway) supposedly weighs 120 tons! Not sure how the construction workers put it in place in 1250 BC.



We clapped our hands inside to hear the repeating echoes. The interior is cone-shaped.