Trip of a lifetime: Athens

We arrived in Athens yesterday late afternoon.and are staying at the best Hotel so far of our trip, Why? Because it has a kettle, and what a luxury to make your own cup of tea. There is a supermarket around the corner, so i bought some real milk because we have a fridge too, well a mini bar. You don't get milk very often with tea in Europe.

In the morning we visited the archaeological site of Mycenae. This was a civilisation evolved in the 16th and 12th century BC and covered the Mediterranean basin, but excavations have shown that habitation was here also as early as the 3rd millennium BC.

Not so easy to see in this picture, but can you see on the drier mountain in front the ruins of the acropolis? The acropolis of the house of the Attreidaes was well placed overlooking the region and was able to control communication routes throughout the Peloponnese and to mainland Greece. The earlier peoples are suspected to be Perseus and his descendants in the middle Helladic period which was 1900-1580 bc.

This is some of the valley the acropolis overlooked

Getting down to the nitty gritty, how on earth did those early civilisations move such massive stones to build their walls?

Those blocks were part of structures like these, the Cyclopean walls, which were approx 900metres long, 5.5-7.5 metres thick and up to 12 metres high.

This is the other side of that wall, called the Lions Gate which is the main entrance to the citadel. The missing lions heads were possibly made of some precious metal, plundered years ago. Lions were used as symbols to represent power and domination.

Another remarkable feat of engineering which I am sure those modern day engineers amongst us will appreciate, is the cistern which was built inside the city in order to supply fresh water in times of siege. These are the steps leading down and going a further 60 metres underground. Too dark down there to go further.

These are the Grave circles, the royal tombs.

The Museum on site which unfortunately we were rushed through, displays many artefacts found on site. This is a display of early implements of hair and makeup. Note the tweezers, bottom left hand corners.

These are some of the characters of the script used at the time.

More for the engineers. This was a beehive tomb, which some people believe was the tomb of Agamemnon. Note the lintel across the opening.

Inside, it is obvious why it is called a beehive tomb. The guide pointed out the crack in the stone lintel on the right hand side. The reason it did not crack in the middle over the doorway during earthquakes is the triangular gap above the doorway.

Another view from the top. We would have loved to spend more time at this site, but sadly the bus was waiting.

This is a atm we found during the lunchtime break.

Yet another example of early engineering, the Corinth Canal, which after numerous early attempts, the emporer Nero apparently turned the first sod with a golden pickaxe. The goal was to cut through the narrow Isthmus of Coritnth literally between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic gulf in the Aegean to save navigation time around the Peloponnese. It was completed in 1893, after a lot of failed attempts because of geological and financial problems. it is excavated down to sea level , so lochs are not needed, however it is narrow and not very deep, so is really only suited to barge type vessels. It was damaged during WW2 but then repaired.