Greece, Spring 2025

A Fabulous Day Trip to the Peloponnese Peninsula – The Corinth Canal, Ancient Mycenae, Nafplio, and the Epidaurus Theatre and Sanctuary

For my third full day in Athens I had booked an all-day bus tour to the Peloponnese peninsula, principally to see the ancient fortress of Mycenae. The tour also included a quick stop to photograph the Corinth Canal, a lunch stop in the lovely seaside town of Nafplio, and a visit to the ancient theatre and sanctuary at Epidaurus. I woke early feeling tired, and then disappointed as I registered the sound of heavy rain falling on my small balcony. The previous muggy days had portended thunder showers and they had arrived! I briefly considered staying in bed and not going (the tour was “rain or shine”), but once up and organized I was ready to carry on. I had a rain jacket and an umbrella, and much of our time would be spent on the bus as the distances were significant. I need not have worried though, as by the time I arrived at the meeting point, the rain had slowed to a trickle. It would continue to come and go all day, but fortunately for us on the tour it fell mostly while we were driving, and cleared for almost all of our stops!

Our first stop was at the amazing Corinth Canal. This 6.4 km long canal divides the Peloponnese peninsula from the rest of the Greek mainland. It was constructed between 1881 and 1893 in order for ships to move from the Agean Sea to the Ionian Sea, instead of having to sail all the way around the Peloponnese, thus saving a journey of over 700 kilometres. The idea for a canal was not new as the Romans under Nero commenced work on a canal in 67 AD, but they abandoned the project soon afterwards. And, an amazing 700 years earlier than the Romans, the Corinthian ruler Periander had commenced to dig a canal. He too gave up the idea, and instead he constructed a “road” of rolling logs on which to portage ships across the narrow Isthmus of Corinth. Today’s canal is 6.4 kilometres long, 80.7 metres wide, and its rock walls rise 90 metres above sea level. It was quite something to see!

From there we began our drive to Mycenae and were soon on wonderful curving and scenic roads that passed between rugged hills and green valleys full of olive trees and pines. Ancient Mycenae is a hilltop fortress that was the capital city of the Mycenaeans, Bronze Age Greeks who dominated the Peloponnese between the 16th and 12th centuries BC, and who extended their influence across the Agean. Here is a first view as I neared the fortress,

and here is a view of its famous Lion Gate that guards the entrance.

It is set in a wall that was forty feet high and twenty feet thick, and was built of enormous blocks of stone that weigh 5-10 tons each! The heads of the carved stone lions are missing, but one imagines that they might have faced incomers with an imperious and warning gaze. The lintel above the gate weighs eighteen tons! I entered the gate and immediately off to the right was the site of the Circle Grave A which contained six graves.

Archaeologists discovered nineteen bodies of men, women, and children buried here, with weapons, ornate staffs, gold and silver cups, and gold jewellery.

They also found five golden death masks, one of which is known as the Death Mask of Agamemnon, the legendary ruler of Mycenae and attacker of Troy. Here is a reproduction of his death mask housed in the onsite museum, and I will see the original in Athens at the National Archaeological Museum on my last day in Athens.

We only had 70 minutes to tour the site and museum (rather than the 90 minutes promised) as it had taken so long to get through the traffic of Athens, but that was okay. I was just happy to absorb the dramatic setting of the site on a rocky hill and between two tall, imposing mountains. There were views down the valley all the way to the sea,

and up the valley to distant mountains.

But, my favourite view was towards the back of the fortress looking towards a pass between the two mountains. I wanted to head to that pass and walk there for miles!

The back part of the fortress featured the ruins of houses, store rooms, and workshops, as well as a stone staircase leading down to a cistern which stored water sourced from springs on the hillside. It was fun to go down and then up.

Also near the back of the fortress was the North Gate which was built of massive stones and fit with a heavy wooden door.

I rose back up to the summit of the fortress,

and then made my way to the museum, stopping often to admire the profusion of wildflowers growing around the site.

The museum showcases some of the artefacts that were found when Mycenae was first discovered and excavated in the 1870s. Here are a few examples of the fine pottery, jewellery, and bronze tools that were on display. (You can click on any photo for a close up if you like.)

A short distance away from the fortress is the Treasury of Atreus, one of two massive beehive-shaped burial chambers that were also discovered here. The impressive entrance passage is 20 feet wide and 110 feet long,

and the round interior chamber, with a corbelled dome roof, is 47 feet in diameter and 42 feet tall!

Notice the enormous stone lintel over the doorway- it is 26 feet long, 16 feet deep, and 3 feet high, and it weighs an amazing 120 tons!

Here is my last view, from the Treasury of Atreus, towards the Mycenaean fortress, camouflaged on its hilltop, with one of its two guardian mountains towering behind.

Then we were off to Nafplio, a seaside town that features three 14th century Venetian fortresses. There are Mycenaean ruins of their port city, Tiryn, nearby, and Nafplio was also the first capital of the modern state of Greece before the capital moved to Athens. Here is the first Venetian fortress, Bourtzi, located dramatically in the middle of Nafplio’s harbour!

I headed to the distant promenade,

for closer views of Bourtzi,

and there were also great views to the hilltop Palamidi Fortress that is reached by climbing over 900 steps. The third Venetian fortress is located on the nearer hill.

I hope to spend several days in historic Nafplio on a future trip to Greece in order to explore those fortresses and also explore Tiryn. But, today there was only time for a quick lunch, and a stroll through some of the streets and alleyways of the old town where many of the colourful Venetian-built buildings cater to visiting tourists with cafes, tavernas, and gift shops.

By the time I returned to the harbour, dark clouds had moved in,

and thunder boomed from across the water where sheets of rain fell.

We boarded the bus and headed to our last stop, Epidaurus, which was a famous centre of healing in Ancient times and known as the Sanctuary of Asclepius who was the god of medicine. Epidaurus is famous for its well-preserved theatre (c. 300 BC) which is built into the side of a forested hill and which has exceptional acoustics where a whisper on the stage can be heard from the highest seats above.

I climbed midway up the steps and turned for views,

and then I rose to the highest level and circled around to the centre for views down over the theatre and out to the mountain scenery beyond. Wow!

I continued around to the far side, and the following photo is one of my favourite shots of the day. I call it, “Three Human Figures”.

The rain started as I began to descend the steps and so I made my way to the small museum,

and then, dry under my umbrella, I toured the grounds of the sanctuary which once featured mineral baths, housing for the sick, temples, alters, a gymnasium, and the theatre. Today, there are scant remains left of those structures, but I felt the healing atmosphere of the place with its mountain scenery, green expanses, trees and flowers.

We reboarded the bus and made a final and bonus stop a short while later at a scenic overlook above the town of Epidaurus. Our charming and excellent tour leader, George, kindly took my photo.

The ride from here to the Corinth Canal was fabulous! I was glad to be sitting on the right side of the bus as we drove the sinuous road along the coast high above the sea. It was a little scary at times, (the thin metal guardrail looked insufficient to its task!), but very beautiful and exciting, and I would love to visit the Peloponnese again to drive that road, revisit today’s sights at a slower place, and also visit more sites like Argos and Sparta. We recrossed the Corinth Canal (such an amazing blue colour!), regained the freeway, and then drove towards and into a thunderstorm that pummelled us with heavy rain. The clouds were black and I saw an electric bolt flash across the entire sky. It was the biggest bolt of lightning that I have ever seen, and the loud boom of thunder followed immediately afterwards. Little did I know that intermittent thunderstorms would be the weather pattern for the following days, but luckily for me none were as fierce as what we drove through on this day. The storm settled down as we approached Athens, and only a few drops of rain were still falling as I excited the bus and said goodbye to George and the others. It had been a fabulous full-day tour, almost eleven hours, and I was so grateful that I had made myself get up and go. Thank you for following me on this exceptional day!

PS – I took my tour with the Open Top Bus Hellas company at a very reasonable low-season rate.