World Greece Argolís Árgos

Adrienne and Steve's travels Adrienne and Steve's Journey 2005/6

Mycenae Apr 12, 2006

We had a bit of a tottering time getting to Mycenae. We decided to get the train, which is slower than the bus, but a lovely trip. However, we discovered when we got to Corinth, that we had to get on a bus anyway, as they were doing engineering works on the line. The bus seemed fine, but after about half an hour there was a clunking noise, the bus slowed down, staggered a bit, then ground to a halt. It looked to me as if the clutch/ gears had gone. There was much phoning and discussion. The driver kept trying to start off and then couldn't get anywhere. More discussion, more phone calls. The priest who had just got on ten minutes before had the right idea. He got onto his mobile, and was clearly telling the person at the other end to sort something out. I don't have Greek, but I understood the gist of it. After a few minutes he got out of the bus and stood by the road expectantly. Sure enough, a taxi screeched to a halt next to him, he climbed in and was off without a backward glance. The rest of us sat on the bus as the driver had another discussion, and then tried something new. He put the bus in reverse and then in gear. Hooray, we were off... Unfortunately he couldn't change up the gears, so we crawled in first gear to the next village. There the phone calls got even more heated, as the driver shouted at the person at the other end that no, he wasn't going to drive the bus in first gear for the next ten miles to Argos, and they had better get a bus out to us or else. He won and we eventually were dropped off at the bottom of the road to Mycenae at 6.30pm. We had no room booked, and I was in full catastrophe mode, convinced that there would be nothing open and we would be stranded. Steve was much more laid back, and of course was right. We walked up to the Belle Helene, and not only found a room, but we allocated Dr Schliemann's room. The Belle Helene is a Mycenae institution. It has been in existence for 150 years or so, and was the house of the family Dassis, where Dr Schliemann stayed when he began the excavations at Mycenae. Since then many famous people have stayed there, including a slew of famous archaeologists, writers and painters, including Jean Paul Sartre, Karl Jung and Virginia Woolf. There's also a scattering of royalty, and a few Nazis including Himmler, Speer and Goering. An eclectic mix. The rooms are sparse but comfortable. The showers and toilets are across the hall, and are vintage 1950s. The hospitality is wonderful, George Dassis now runs the place and is welcoming and has a fund of knowledge. So we were very happy, and even happier when we found a taverna a couple of door down, with great food. The first day we went up to the site, which was fairly busy with the coach tours, but even so we were able to wander round the north side and find ourselves alone, with the odd other couple avoiding the mainstream. The shouting and chattering of the school parties could have been the bustle of ancient Mycenaean life [2000-1500 BCish]. I even managed to do part of Ruth and Jamie's challenge, by reading the Electra speech at the door of the ancient palace, with only one bemused couple appearing at the end of it, wondering what I was up to. Steve has taken a picture, which I will try to attach in Tilos. The next day we had told Mr Dassis we wanted to do a walk. He suggested we went out of the top of the village, past the church. He described a path, past the Turkish well, the Hellenic well and the Mycenaean well. He then gave us directions going off through an olive grove to find a tholos [beehive tomb], which was one of the nine found in Mycenae, but was off the beaten track. We followed his instructions; well, well, well, there was the tholos. And it was wonderful, very well preserved, with the openings in the floor of the tomb, where the excavations has taken place. We walked on and walked past the old site, up and above over the hills. The spring flowers are out, and we had the road to ourselves, except for a party of English hikers coming in the other direction. We never did find where they had come from. It was a perfect day. The next day we got a lift from Mr Dassis into Argos and had a look at the ruins there. There was a stunning Greek theatre, and a little theatre [Odeon] next to it. We decided it was like the Crucible and studio. The big theatre was unusual as it was more wedge shaped than usual, and was carved out of the rock rather than built. It was also very tall. The other nice bit to the day, apart from having the whole site to ourselves, was meeting a large tortoise who patiently let us take his photo, with a world-weary air of having seen it all before. So we had a wonderful time in Mycenae, and felt very smug as we watched the tour buses roar through, disgorge the visitors, who were trooped round the whole thing in an hour, then packed off for the next site, as we savoured it all at a very slow pace.

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