To the Mainland!!!

After our day in Crete we moved on to the mainland of Greece, to a port called Nauplia. We were getting used to the Grecian landscape of olive groves backed by blue mountains.

We took off on a morning tour to the site of Epidauros, which was once a healing sanctuary in ancient Greece. On the way to the site, we passed a church that was made (before the days of archaeological site preservation) from materials from the site at Epidauros. This was the best shot we could get from the other side of the bus.

Isn’t the country beautiful?

The site at Epidauros has the best preserved amphitheatre of all of the ruins (with the best acoustics too, apparently).

At the entrance, guess what? A sleeping dog. In one of Allie’s favourite (and most ladylike) positions.

Isn’t it amazing?

It’s quite a hike up to the top!

And it’s true about the acoustics. You can hear everything that happens in the centre of the circle at the bottom from the very top.

Tom’s been watching too many gladiator shows.

And again.

Tom testing out the acoustics.

The little baby museum was full of amazing finds. Incredibly well preserved.

A round building on the site contained a maze in its basement. It’s rumoured that it was used to contain snakes (used for healing in the sanctuary), and that patients to the sanctuary may have been put in the maze as some kind of shock therapy. Archaeologists removed the crumbling floor above it, and then filled it with sand to protect it from any further decay. It has now been covered over with a new re-constructed floor.

Normally the animal heads along the tops of buildings are lions. On this particular building most of the animal heads were dogs, and the last one, pictured below, was a boar.

I had to stop Tom from eating this olive, fallen from a random olive tree outside the museum.

After the museum, we visited the place where guests to the sanctuary would have stayed.

This is the stadium within the sanctuary complex, where they held their 'games'. Apparently it’s one of the few that had seats.

This was once a long narrow building that housed dormitories.

Here’s Tom demonstrating how a machine they use to transport the big blocks of stone works.

Gorgeous countryside yet again.

After the morning at Epidauros, Tom and I elected to spend the afternoon wandering around the town. These seats are an interesting take on Panton S chairs!

The town of Nauplia is gorgeous. Apparently it’s a holiday spot for locals from Athens, since it’s only about a two-hour drive. And it’s a gorgeous little European town.

We seriously considered a ride on this little tourist train car thing.

And how cute are these?

Tom would have made me ride in one of these around town if he could have found their owner to pay.

This is the main waterfront café area. It was gorgeous.

So gorgeous in fact, that we just had to enjoy it properly.

The old fortress across the water. Beautiful when lit up at night.

We enjoyed a twilight swing in the playground before the boat left that evening.

And now for more of the beautiful town.

The town square is made of marble.

There’s a castle that sits on top of a hill above the town. Apparently there are 999 steps to get to the top. Tom decided to take on that challenge at a run not once, but twice (couldn’t miss taking photos from the top at sunset)!

And that’s Nauplia. Absolutely gorgeous town. Greece is certainly impressing us!