The young English trauck driver had missed me as he left the ferry on his way to Athens so I was going to get a bus to Mycenae as I had originally planned to do before I met the drivers on the boat.  There was no bus from Patrai for a while so I thought it would be a good time to grab a bite to eat.
  I found a restaurant and enjoyed the most tasty dish of Calamari I'd ever had.  If this was going to be the standard of Greek food I was going to be one delighted Kiwi.

The bus was slow.  I didn't mind at all as I had a good view of the countryside as we slid past.  It was comfortable and as I'd had very little sleep I was happy to stare out the window in a bit of a dream.  I was thankful it wasn't anything like the horror bus of Morocco all those months ago!

When we were dropped in Mycenae I discovered the archeological site I was wanting to see (the ruins of the Royal Palace) was quite some distance up a side road.  I was up to the challenge and decided on "Shank's Pony".  It was a beautiful day, not too hot, thanks to a nice cloud cover.

It wasn't a tough walk as the area was relatively flat and I was used to the weight of my pack.

As I approached the entrance to the site I was overtaken by a bus which proceeded to spill it's passengers out onto the road in front of me, where they assembled and were led by guides into the Palace through the "Lion's Gate".

There wasn't much of the place left after all the passing of time and, I guess, the battles won and lost, but I had a good look around and read about where I was from my book.
 
One of the more substantial structures that remained was the burial chamber.  It was shaped like a domed bee hive and had been protected by the fact it was more or less underground.
 
I approached the opening, which was a single doorway into a dark, cave-like room.  As I got closer I realized it was not just the shape that resembled a bee hive, flying out of the chamber toward me were 1/2 a dozen of the busy little things.
  I thought twice about going in -didn't want to upset the resident Queen, after all, this was the Royal Palace.
 
I peered in to see the domed roof as best I could and beat a hasty retreat back to the rows of broken walls.


After I'd seen all the area had to offer I thought it time I cut out of there.  Several people were making there way back out through the Lion Gate to the roadway and were hanging about, I guess for a bus.  I had about me a great sense of purpose as I strode past, pack on back, heading back out to the main road.
  A couple of minutes later the bus trundled past, and then returned loaded with it's cargo of tourists.  I was thankful for the seal on the road as there was no cloud of dust to cover me as it went by.

At the main road I found a bus stop with a bench seat and little else.  There wasn't any information as to when a bus might come by but this was where I had been dropped off so I figured there had to be more than one each day and as it was only mid-day I thought it unlikely I'd still be sitting there in the dark.

After a few minutes a woman approached and sat beside me.  Two people waiting at a bus stop is much more promising and I figured we wouldn't have too long to wait.

As we sat we started chatting.  The woman was an archeology student from Oxford in England.  She was over here in Greece to do some research and was heading to Athens from here.  Her name was Christine and we sat together on the bus where we talked and talked about travels, the sites we've seen and what future plans we had to see the world.

When the bus arrived at Nafplion we were so deep in conversation the driver had to shout at me to let me know it was my stop.  Christine and I hurridly exchanged contact details and I spilled out into the sun. 
  I expected I might catch her in Athens in a couple of days.  She would make a perfect companion as I explored the city as she was knowledgeable enough to fill me in on the history of the archeological sites.

A visit to the ancient site of Mycenae.   I’m really feeling sick now with a head cold and rest a couple of days eating oranges that I pinched from a local orchard. 

We decided to drive to Mycenea. We got lost on the way. It is so weird to be lost and  not  even be able to read the signs to find yourself.  We drove and drove then we came to a spot in the road where the water was over the road about 2 feet deep... that was it ....We turned around and headed back the way we came...  We finally realized we started out the wrong exit from town & retraced our steps to the middle of  town to start out again. ...  That worked.... once we were going the right way there were signs in English pointing the way... (that was a relief...)

Mycenea was really wonderful. the lion gates were immense  . . . . Each piece weighed tons each. even the stones of the walls were huge. the ancient people thought the place must have been built by cyclops or giants because of the huge size of the stones in the walls.

Funny and true story..... an amateur archeologist, Heinrich Sheilman, wanted to find the Mycenean treasures described by Homer.  He researched using the Homeric writings. He was poopoohed by the "real" guys... He actually found a huge treasure UNTOUCHED by looters.   Several burial mounds and graves were found with incredible amounts of gold and  statuary and pottery. some of it was pre 2500 BC!  He found a thin gold death mask that he identified as the mask of Agamemnon,  (now displayed at the  National Archealogical museum in Athens)  The find of the treasures was significant in the archeologial world. Mycenea is  famous for the mask of Agamemnon... pure gold..... but it was later discovered that the mask was the wrong era for Aggie.  Poor Heinrich was criticized for his excavation techniques but... he still beat them all and found the wonderful treasures....

He uncovered "beehive" treasuries ... it's self supporting and has a keyhole opening... .. It was shaped eggshaped (like a beehive.)when you walked inside it echoed and it was 50 feet high by 40 wide.... (my aproximate measures) 

the actual city was huge.    We walked the site and marveled at the size of the walls and surrounds.

 the museum was so great.....  We were not there as long as we would have liked to be:  because of getting seriously lost on our way there.

Na nog wat op een terrasje gedronken te hebben reden we door naar ons volgende doel: Mykene. Hier heeft ooit een vreselijke familie gewoond, die zichzelf volledig heeft uitgeroeid.

We beklommen eerst de burcht en daarna bezochten de “schatkamer van Atreus” waar we alleen nog maar de kamer aantroffen, de schatten waren hier niet meer.

Eenmaal weer in de bus, het was nu ongeveer 13.30 uur, reden we naar het dichtstbijzijnde dorpje waar we de lunch gebruikten. Nou, dat lieten we ons best smaken.

We reden nu door naar het plaatsje Nafplion waar we nog even rondwandelden en met onze voeten in het water gingen zitten. Daar fristen we wel even van op.

 Myceanae is my favourite archaeological sight in greece! i love the story as i know it from history class in school & university! i love the place! the landscape is beautiful! i have been there many times as a  kid (with eleni, 10 years ago, when we were at school). i give information by an internet site cause i couldnt say all i know in english! :)