Mycenae

If you're trying to get to Mycenae from Athens don't try to catch the bus from Nafplia. That is what the sites recommend, but it is a waste of time. There are three Nafplia-Mykines buses that leave on the hour from 10 to 2. They have a tendency to cancel them with no warning. There is no need to take them though since the bus to Nafplia goes within two miles of Mycenae. Get off the bus at the stop for Fichtio, a small town about 40 minutes from Athens. Take the road opposite the bus station east to the town of Mykines. That's the modern town built up to take advantage of the tourist trade to Mycenae. It's only about a mile and a half down the road. You can go back the same way which saves having to rely on the limited buses going to Nafplia. They have buses running until about 8 or 9 so you have more time to see what you want.

The people in Mykines and Fichtio are friendlier than most of the people I met on my trip. I generally find small-town folk are more relaxed and less in-your-face than city dwellers. They lead a less rushed life and can sit back and enjoy the little things more. Their way of communicating is still different than in America and Britain though, so they can be pretty pushy. The woman who ran the store that doubles as the bus station was yelling at me when the bus was coming and kept making shoo gestures. I knew that she was trying to help (which was an improvement over Nafplia) but it still seemed rude. It's just one of those cultural differences that you have to get over. The people in the countryside are less likely to know English than people from the city. Trying to ask for directions is not going to be very easy unless you know what the name of the town you're looking for sounds like in Greek. Knowing the Greek for bus would help if you know you're going to be taking a lot of buses. Even names that should make sense can sound radically different than how you might think. There was a woman in Delphi who called her cat Menelaus after Agamemnon's brother but I was damned if I could figure out the name until she explained who he was. It sounded like Minilays or something. That's where the transliterated road signs come in handy. I had to give up on communicating with the guy working at the grocery store. There was just no way to ask what I needed to ask and he couldn't understand enough English to help. So if you're going to go somewhere in Greece make sure you know what the name sounds like in Greek and English or you may be stuck.

Having gotten off at the wrong stop I had to walk about four miles to get there. It was not helpful that there appears to be no speed limit in Greece as all the cars whiz by at maximum speed. The area around Mycenae is quite nice though. It's a flat plain that runs for miles down to the sea and it's filled with farms. This being Greece there are also a number of abandoned houses and junkyards.

The city itself is built between the two hills visible here. That little hill in the middle is Mycenae.

It may not look it from here but Mycenae actually commands an amazing view of the plain. If you don't know where to look or what to look for you'll never spot the place even though it's right in front of you. On the way into Mycenae you go through the modern town of Mykines. It's a small, sleepy town filled with tourist shops and hotels. There was almost nobody around when I was there. They can't make much money from selling souvenirs because most of the stores look dirt poor with everything piled on tables and no furniture apart from folding chairs. Several of the store owners were sitting there with their mothers. Most of the area around is very nice farmland. I figure that the stores are owned by farming families to help ends meet. The one exception to that is a rather nice pottery store that sells hand-made pottery.

From the town you can walk up to Mycenae. It's not that hard to find because there is a big paved road leading up to it.

Mycenae is in the perfect position for a Bronze Age city. There is a steep valley on one side, a cliff on the other, and the approach from the front is uphill while the rear approach can only come from one direction since it is hemmed in by two mountains. Perseus chose his site well.

If you go down into the valley you can see some of the walls remaining from old buildings and burial sites. The citadel was originally surrounded by houses which haven't survived because they were built out of less permanent materials. It's important to remember that while Mycenae might be a sleepy little town today, isolated in the middle of nowhere, it used to be heavily populated and powerful. The remains are still impressive today but they feel very removed from being a great city.

Archeological work is frequently ongoing. Even a site as thoroughly and repeatedly explored as Mycenae still has many secrets still hidden. For example, there is the undercity I just mentioned. How far did the settlements extend beyond the walls? I don't think that anyone knows. Troy and Mycenae have a similar excavation history. Both discovered at the same time, both tied to the same myth, both the most famous dig connected with their respective countries, etc. and yet only within the past few years has it been confirmed that Troy did indeed have a city outside the citadel.

On the way to the Lion's Gate are two of the most famous tholos tombs on the site. This one here is the Tomb of Clytemnestra, named after Agamemnon's wife who murdered him. It was so named because of the middle aged woman found buried there. It is unfortunately the wrong era for her, just like the Treasury of Atreus is neither a treasury nor connected with Atreus.

The Lion's Gate is probably the most famous part of Mycenae. As you walk past the admission desk you come to the Cyclopean walls. These are formed from enormous rocks and are a common feature of most Mycenaean era fortresses. Photographs don't really capture the scale but the gate is large enough to admit a person sitting on another's shoulders. Apart from the heads it is quite well preserved. This is the main entrance to the city and was clearly designed to impress visitors with its scale.

 

Once inside the gate you can see the summit where the palace once stood. None of the buildings are still standing so walking around the site you are walking through patches where buildings have been. Depending on when you go this area can be really quiet or really noisy. Later in the day when most of the tourists have gone is the best time to visit. It has a real quite, melancholic feel to it. Something about the way the site is just abandoned and isolated makes it feel quite gloomy and atmospheric.

The view from the top is astounding. On a clear day you can see all the way to Argos. It would certainly have been quite hard for an enemy to sneak up unexpectedly. It is very hard to believe that this place was taken by siege, yet the place was burned down by 1200 BC leaving a smaller town on top ruling over what was probably a much smaller area. The southern side of the wall is built on top of a cliff and is unapproachable from the ground. The opposite side of the fortress has less visibility but the narrow valley between the mountains should have made it difficult for invaders.

On the other side of the citadel are what feel like more mundane buildings. The far end has a window that you can look out but there isn't much to see. On the other side of the wall the ridge continues on between the mountains and must have been a main road. This side is more quiet and isolated than the front. Perhaps part of that is because it is behind all the main buildings. It is quite hard not to imagine this place as being a kingly courtyard where Agamemnon could sit and look out over the hills. It also features one of the most important defensive features of the city.

The well is located deep under the bowels of the city. When under siege it would have been vital to have a fresh supply of water at hand so the later kings dug this. It's not sealed off so you can go down it, but you'll need a flashlight. I went down as far as I could with natural light and it was a very spooky place. Dark and gloomy and with the knowledge that at the bottom there was nothing but a pit of water. I can't imagine people using it with nothing but torchlight to guide them. I don't even want to know how they built it. It is a decidedly unpleasant hole.

There is a gate on the other side of the city for those coming from across the mountains. This port is less elaborate and decorative so it was clearly designed for more functional matters. Going through this gate the path sticks to the wall and takes you to where the palace would have been. In the valley below this lies the museum. I understand it is quite good, but it was closed when I got there so I couldn't go in.

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37°43'49.50"N, 22°45'27.65"E