Inter Rail 1987 Day 10

The alarm went off at 7.30am. Night had been spent in the sleeping bag lying on the ground next to the jalopy under the stars. Sounds idyllic but the ground was bloody hard, I was a bit wheezy and the French types on the next plot left their light on all night so a good nights sleep was a tad difficult to get.

Jon went for a very early morning swim whilst I had a lie-on. Eventually stirred my stumps, had a shower and then bought some bread, Jam and whatever the greek for saucisson is. Due to some typical Greek and French parking it looked like the jalopy was blocked in on our plot. However we managed to navigate our way out via the circuitous route which involved much holding up of washing lines, complete with clothes!

Took the old road back towards Argos in order to get to our first destination of Mycenae. As a result discovered a large number of deep and nasty looking potholes. Some of them were big enough for the jalopy to disappear in.

Managed to get through Argos without having to go via the junction. Made our way up to Mykines to the ancient site of Mycenae and parked, literally, at the entrance.

The Lion's Gate entrance is the oldest monumental sculpture in Europe and was impressive. Jon climbed up to have his photo taken standing right behind the carving above the entrance. The Grave Circle A was quite funny looking and contains six royal shaft graves. The tunnels to the cistern looked they would be interesting but apart from some good views, turned out to be relatively uninteresting. Another pile of stoney rubble.

Just a short walk down from the Mycenaen Acropolis were the Treasury of Atreus, also known as the Tomb of Agamemnon plus the Tomb of Clyemnesta. Both were very impresive and similarly designed. We went into the Tomb of Agamemnon.

It consisted of three main parts. A dromos is a narrow passageway or corridor which served as an entrance to a tholos tomb of the Mycenaean period. It cuts into the hillside and gives way to the entrance door. The tholos is a huge circular, oast house shaped chamber. There is also a small rock-cut chamber often called the true grave.

It was lovely and cool inside the Tomb. We went into the small true grave chamber which was pitch black as it received no direct sunlight. Standing against the far wall we were invisible. Some English speaking grockles entered the chamber and had no idea we were there. We waited a while and then suddenly sppke. They totally jumped out of their skin!

Headed off towards the southern Peloponnese. The coast road gave lovely views towards Nauplion. We then headed off into the mountains towards Tripolis. The road to Tripolis was very silly being very, very route touristique like, but the views were quite spectacular. Stopped for a bite to eat enroute.

We almost missed the turning in Tripolis towards Sparta because the signposts were entirely written in Greek and it took me a while to translate. The road down to Sparta was straight and Jo the Jalopy got up to some great speeds. Sparta has a great legendary name and tradition but is, these days, just a bog standard modern Greek rural town.

Having turned west out of Sparta, we stopped to take a look at Mystras (which became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1989). It's a fabulous place. It is topped off with a castle which Jon visited but I gave a miss. I spent time looking at deserted palaces, churches, a monastery and what looked like a complete city. There were gorgeous views and it was lovely and peaceful. The churches, even though they were deserted, still made you act reverently. The place was practically indescribable.

Drove back into Sparta, filled up with petrol using the placky, and set off on the road to Gythio. As we entered the town, signs for camping disappeared and we had to double back. Gythio itself is very pretty.

The campsite was a double effort affair, being a large olive grove in winter. It cost us 1000 drachmas but there was English type loos and hot showers. We headed straight to the beach which was a long, steeply shelving sandy affair. Stayed there until 7.00pm then went back up to the campsite for a shower and a meal. Had souvlaki, greek salad and chips plus two 33cl bottles of Demestica wine.

Called it a night before Jon. Was a bit wheezy in the night and the mossies were a disturbance. My face suffered a number of bites but nothing else as nothing else was exposed. Wasn't too bad.

Mycenae Rd	Mycenae Rd	Mycenae Tomb Circle	Mycenae Acropolis	Mycenae LionGate	Jon Mycenae LionGate
Me Clytemnesta Tomb	Jon Clytemnesta Tomb	Mystras Rd	Mystras	Mystras	Mystras