Corinth and Sounion

Corinth is a spot many have heard of from religious texts (Corinthians) and Ricardo Montalban commercials (rich Corinthian leather). Actually I'm not sure if the leather is from the same place, but that is neither here nor there. Corinth was a rival to Athens in ancient times. Today one can visit the ruins on the Acrocorinth (upper town) and see artifacts like this mosaic in the museum.



This is the Temple of Apollo on the Acrocorinth:



Heading east and south, past Athens, one reaches Cape Sounion, where the Temple of Poseidon is perched on a promontory overlooking the Agean.



It was probably built around 440 BC.



It must have been dramatic to approach this spot from the sea in ancient times. Or even now, actually.

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.

Mystra

Near Sparta is another fabulous site for Byzantine ruins, the former despotate of Mystra. The Turks and Venetians also occupied Mystra for significant periods of time.



Like Monemvasia, Mystra has a lower town and an upper town. Here's the view down from the upper town. There is a convent still in use here. That's the modern town way down below.



From the upper town's wall, there is a nice view of the snowy mountains, or at least there was during our visit in January.



Wildflowers grow alongside the paths.



I liked the flowering trees as well.

Now those are Easter eggs

We still haven't finished posting photos of our trip to Greece (which took place in January!), but we are interrupting them to show you how Italians like their Easter eggs: enormous, chocolate and filled with presents. You can buy your eggs with presents already inside, or you can bring your gifts of choice to the chocolatier to place inside whichever egg you want.

Here's a photo of a chocolate shop window in our neighborhood in Rome:



Can you see the price tag on the egg in the lower right corner? It says 350 Euro. At today's exchange rate of $1.35 = 1 Euro, that's $472.57. I wonder how much the larger, mermaid egg costs.

Monemvasia

Monemvasia was an island off the southeastern part of the Peloppense, but now it is joined to the mainland via a causeway. Great place for a stronghold, so they built one.

This is the view from our hotel room's balcony.


There is a lower town, where hotels, shops and residences are located today, and an upper town, which is where residents would go in the event of an invasion. This is the main square in the lower town.



A fortress wall separates the upper town from a sheer cliff.



The upper town now features Byzantine ruins and footpaths leading from one to the next.



The trails were a bit overgrown but lovely, with wildflowers here and there. You can see the Agean Sea (although it was actually much bluer than it appears in this photo) and the lower town from here.

Mani

The Mani peninsula is located in the south central part of the Pelopennese. Kalamata (of olive fame) is the gateway town that leads to the rest of the peninsula. It has a port full of fishing boats.



The place where we stayed is a bit further on. We originally had hoped to stay in Kardhamyli, but all of its hotels seemed to be closed, so we headed out of town and found the Kalamitsi Hotel. It, too, appeared to be deserted, but we persisted till we found the proprietor. The lovely rooms are like little apartments with kitchenettes. From the collection of German-language novels on the bookshelves, I gather they get plenty of German guests in the warmer months. We could see olive and orange trees, as well as the sea, from our window.



The next day we explored the old section of Kardhamyli town, which consists of a small collection of ruins and churches on a hill. There was also a winding footpath that headed uphill for a few kilometers.



The Mani coast is quite pretty, studded with little fishing towns next to the blue, blue water.

Bassae

What's in the tent? Hint: it's large. For scale, look at the guard shack to the right.



Again, notice the difference in the size of the building on the right and the tent.



OK, give up? Turns out that inside is the Temple of Apollo Epicurius. The tent protects the temple from further deterioration. It is under a section-by-section restoration process right now.



For some reason, this 5th century BC temple is located on a remote mountaintop. It's a striking location, but how in the world did pilgrims make their way there, way back when? It's not near any known ancient settlements. Maybe only the truly dedicated (and strong-legged) made their way to this temple to the god of healing.