Upon landing in Piraeus and getting off the ferry, Greg and Christine left the three girls in a small park with all of our luggage. These experienced travelers were not the least bit concerned. Even traveling light as we did (each person had to be able to carry what they were bringing for two months!), splitting up in Piraeus proved to save a lot of wear and tear on everyone. We weren't sure precisely where the car rental agency was and it ended up being the better part of an hour before we returned in our new little red rental car. After determining that 5 people and 10+ bags could actually be packed into the car, we escaped the city before rush hour really kicked in and we headed West over the Corinth Canal.

We drove on divided highway for a few hours, crossed a bridge at the straight of Corinth, and then headed south on a two lane road until late afternoon when we arrived in Mycenae. It is a very small town but we drove right up to where we had made reservations at La Belle Helene (tel/fax: 0030 0751 76179), a modest pension in Mycenae, a mile or so from the ancient site where Agamemnon, Clytemnestra and Orestes are reputed to have lived, and which was unearthed by Dr Heinrich Schliemann in 1876. Dr. Schliemann's room was taken, but we slept in two rooms on the same floor. Christine did some laundry in the basins in the sink and went out in the dark to the clothes line behind the building. The dinning room at this place could accommodate over 150 people. We learned that the large dinning area was designed to meet the business needs of the “bus tourist” industry which brings up thousands of visitors to the archeological site each day! (Fortunately, we got to the site about one hour before the bussies and were able to tour most of it nearly alone. See other pictures in this row) Besides the kitchen and dinning area, nothing much has changed at La Belle Helene since the good doctor lodged there. The grandson of the man who owned the boarding house when Schliemann lived there, George Dassis (first photo in the row below), was a most gracious host.

We entered the Citadel of Mycenae through the Lion's Gate. Although it looks just like in history books, the temptation to take our own photo of these 15 century old stones was too strong to resist. One of the most impressive experiences was to enter the tomb of Agamemnon (also called the Treasury of Atreus). The height of the bee hive shaped chamber is at least 100 feet at the center. We were so lucky to be in there all alone. The ghosts of the builders and inhabitants (kings of Mycenae going to the Underworld) could almost be felt.

The entrance alone is 45 feet high! See Vivianne standing in the open door way. Two immense slabs of stone, one of which is nearly 30 ft long and estimated to weigh 265,000 lbs, forms the lintel across the top of the doorway. The entire construction is of huge blocks of stone, similar to those used in the "Cyclopean walls" up to 46 ft wide that surround the Citadel (main site).

We had to stay ahead of the bussies, so after a quick tour of the tomb, we skipped town and headed south by way of a small detour. Greg hoped to find a “short cut” by way of back roads. Instead we found ourselves in the middle of olive orchards on a dirt path that got ever narrower and rougher until finally, after about 20 minutes, we decided to turn back and stick to the main routes (west to Tripoli then south to Sparta).

We thought that we might spend the night in Sparta because it would be a bigger town and we did not have reservations anywhere for the night. In fact, Sparta is a somewhat run down metropolitan center in the middle of a very big agricultural valley. We quickly passed through and headed straight west to the next archeological site we wanted to see: Mistras.

This row of photos is our souvenir of Mistras. It was really a beautiful visit because again, our timing was perfect we got there after all the bussies had left, around 5 PM and the place was practically deserted. We explored the Byzantine monasteries, Blakan cathedrals and churches (dating from about 12 to 14th centuries), admiring the frescos and mosaics for a few hours. While Vivianne wrote in her journal, Greg, Nikki and Brigitte climbed all the way to the top (the Kastro), which offers panoramic views of the towns below.

After visiting Mistras, we continued west, through the city of Kalamata, and found a nice restaurant with a great view of the Bay of Kalamata. We were the only ones dinning there that night and we had a table looking out over the water as the sun set. We were still wondering where we were going to sleep. It turned out that this restaurant also had rooms to rent so we stayed the night.

The next morning we headed for the Lousios Gorge. While Greg and the girls walked the 6-7 mile trail, Christine visited a few little towns in the heart of Arcadia (Karitena, Stemnitsa and Dhimitsana) and drove the car to the other end of the trail and waited at a chapel perched high above the deep ravine. Everyone raved about their experience of the gorge (but since they didn't have the digital camera, it is not documented here), the monk they met along the way, and the bridges they crossed as the trail linked up these monasteries hanging on the edge of the cliffs.

After the walk, we headed west again and drove to Olympia. Finding a hotel was kind of a hassle, but eventually we negotiated a reasonable rate for two rooms and had our last Greek dinner in a great restaurant (but the service was very slow) in a town on a bluff above the river valley.

The next morning we visited the archeological site of Olympia and the museum across the street. All before the bussies caught up with us. We found this to be our favorite of the archeological sites. It was very well balanced between the “ruins” and the rebuilt. We had a good book that explained what the different parts of the park were, how they were used during the Olympic games and the significance of different columns and statues.

After getting our fill of Olympia, we headed north to Patras. We had a ticket on the Europa Palace but it took a while to return the rental car because we had forgotten to fill it up with gas. While waiting in a small park, Brigitte learned how to use her new Pokemon toy purchased at the duty free shops in the port. Unfortunately the digital camera was not used to document the trip across the Adriatic sea between Greece and Italy, but Greg has a few good pictures in the photo album.