Corinth, Mycenae and Nafplion

Nafplion is a small port on the Peloponnesus, the peninsula that makes up the southernmost portion of Greece. From Nafplion one can get to the ruins of the ancient cities of Corinth and Mycenae.

The ancient city of Corinth was burned by the Romans in 146 BC and re-founded by Julius Caesar in 44 BC. It became one of the leading cities of the Roman Empire. The Apostle Paul spent at least 18 months in Corinth and wrote two epistles to the Corinthian Christians. It was destroyed by earthquakes in 375 and 551 AD. In 856 AD another earthquake is reputed to have killed 45, 000 people. Much of what was left was destroyed by another earthquake in 1858. Following that event a new city of Corinth was begun near the ancient city.


Below are the ruins of the Temple of Apollo.

Some of the Jews in Corinth were angry with Paul and his teachings and had him brought before the Proconsul, Gallio. They accused Paul of various crimes against Jewish law and tradition. Gallio said that Paul had not broken any Roman laws and let him go. The people watching this trial were incensed at the Jews for wasting their time and proceeded to beat Paul's accusers. The place where this trial took place is shown below. As you can tell there is ongoing archaeological work at this site.

Mycenae is the site of a Bronze Age culture. Howard Schliemann, the 19th century archaeologist, found and excavated Mycenae by following descriptions of Homer and other Greek texts. He believed that this was the city from whence Agamenon set out for Troy in about 1250 BC.. He also found what may well be Troy but that is another story. As you can see in the photo below, Mycenae sits on a hill. The palace was at the top of the hill.

Entrance to Mycenae is by walking on a broad roadway and passing through the Lion's Gate in the wall, shown below.

The photo above is taken from the roadway on the city side of the Lion's Gate looking up to the top of the hill. The two photos below are of grave circles just west of the roadway below the city. Many grave goods were found in these graves including many golden objects. A golden death mask was found in a grave at Mycenae and labeled by Schliemann as Agamennon's death mask. It now resides in a museum in Athens; there is no proof one way or another that it is Agamennon's.

There is another type of tomb here called beehive tombs. As you can see below they are large structures, underground, in the shape of a beehive. When you consider that they were built 3000 plus years ago their construction is quite remarkable.

The photo above shows the entrance to a beehive tomb. As you can see the stones at the bottom of the entrance walls are huge. They are called cyclops stones because some of the people after the Mycenaens thought that the mythical race of giants with one eye, the cyclops, must have put them there. The next photo is of the interior of the dome and a little bit of the top of the door.

The port of Nafplion was controlled by the Venetians for a considerable period of time during the Middle Ages-Renaissance. The Palmidi fortress shown below was built by the Venetians and finished in 1714. It was captured by the Turks in 1715 and then by the Greeks in 1822.

Below is the harbor at Nafplion. The fortress is called Bourtzi and was built by the Venetians in 1473.

Olympia, Greece

Olympia is on the west side of the Pelopenese peninsula in Greece. Katakolon is the closest port. For this visit we hired a taxi to take us to Olympia, wait for us, and bring us back to Katakolon. Great way to visit Olympia. We could see what we wanted and spend as much or  as little time as we wanted. We could also avoid crowds this way. Olympia was a sanctuary with several temples as well as an athletic training site and the place where the ancient Olympics were held. Please see my blog of 10/16/ 09 for more details and photos.

The four photos below show some of the ruins of the sanctuary.

 

The photo below shows a wall with an interesting pattern used in it's construction.

This column and the platform on which it rests is basically all that remains of the Temple of Zeus. This temple contained a huge ivory and gold statue of Zeus, one of the Ancient Wonders of the World.

Below is what I think is part of the Temple of Hera. If memory serves me correctly, the Olympic fire is lit in the stone bowl, using a parabolic mirror to ignite it.. The Olympic torch is lit from the bowl and then carried to the site of the modern Olympics.

Below are the remains of  the Philippeion.

Below are the remains of the tunnel entrance to the Olympic stadium. Only the 20 finalists in each event were allowed to use this tunnel. This photo is taken from the stadium looking out the tunnel.

Above is the stadium showing the starting line. About halfway down on the left is a stone stand where a priestess stood, the only woman allowed in the stadium.

Above are terra cotta decorations from the friezes of buildings, adding in my view, much needed color. Below is a lion's head, also probably decoration on a building.

For some reason or other I really like the sculpture of the bull shown below. Maybe 'cause I'm an old cowboy.

The handsome dude below appears to be having his beard yanked by someone, maybe his grandson.

This is the harbor of Katakolon. The last photo is the beautiful blue Ionian sea, as we leave Katakolon behind.

Mykonos

Mykonos is one of the Cyclades Islands of Greece in the south Aegean Sea. It is a small island, only 33 square miles. The main town is also called Mykonos; a main, perhaps the main industry now is tourism. Mykonos is noted for its nightlife. The town is small with narrow streets, mainly pedestrian. It is a very colorful place with a lot of blue and white. The photo below is of some waterfront buildings.

Below are two photos of a small church.

Window with lace curtains and beautiful blue shutters.

Doorway, probably to a house.

Small church in background in above photo. Below is a building with another prominent color, red. Also note the bougainvillea.

The two photos below show white with blue trim on a wide spot in a street.

Below is another small church.

 There is a knit goods shop in the building shown below.

 Typical narrow street shown below.

 Another small church.

The three photos below show the beautiful white with blue trim seen so frequently.

I really like the door shown in the photo below. I don't know what sort of building it leads into, perhaps a church.

More bougainvillea on a building that houses a bar.

Below is another small church.

The last two photos are of some of the iconic windmills of Mykonos. The ones shown here are located on the edge of the harbor. There are some 16 windmills remaining on Mykonos. They were built by the Venetians in the 16th century and used to mill wheat. They ceased being used in the middle of the 19th century.

Santorini, Part 2

Thera has both Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. The two photos below are from the Roman Catholic side of things. The blue with the white walls and blue sky is very striking. There is a small dome in Thera shown inmany photos and commercials for Santorini which is no longer blue; it is now white.





Below are a couple of very interesting entrances. The one with the stairs leading down is the entrance to a restaurant, I think. The other one may be a doorway to a monastery or nunnery; I can't remember for sure.





The four photos below are all of the Catholic church.









This photo is part of the same Catholic complex.



The sun is setting and the moon rising over Thera.







Sunset at Santorini.