Day 5 – Mt. Helmos
We started the day not too sure of our plans. After studying the map, we realized we could make it to Mycenae (a World Heritage site) that afternoon if we went a different way. This different way took us high up into the forest flanking Mt. Helmos, one of Greece’s highest mountains. It also took us on dirt roads for the first time. Great fun! And I only NEARLY dropped the bike.
After descending the other side of the Helmos pass we found ourselves in the Nemea Valley. Those of you who know your mythology know that one of Hercules’ 12 tasks was to capture a lion that once terrorized this valley. Today it is one of Greece’s premier wine producing areas and wine is for sale all long the roads here. We found that some of the best Greek wines are sold in plastic 1.5 lt bottles similar to spring-water bottles. From Nemea to Mycenae I tried to take a shortcut which, by the time we found the right way, took much longer than if we had just gone the right way. One of the most difficult things about driving in Greece for non-Graecophones is that road signs fly past before you can even speculate as to what they say. This is why and how we drove in circles looking for Mycenae. Eventually, we found the campsite near the dig and set up camp.
We met a retired Belgian couple there who we kept running into the rest of our trip. I don’t know if it was due to the season but it seemed like almost all the other tourists on the Peloponnesus were over the age of 65, in campers, and usually German.
In this part of the Greece (Akadia and Aecia) there is a large concentration of very old Archeological sites. Most of them are classical or pre-classical making them roughly 3000 years old. I am not going to go in depth about the history as that is Luci’s forte. We arrived too late in the day to see the site a Mycenae but rode up to the gate to see the entry fee and opening times. We discovered that in two days entry to all Greece’s Archeological sites would be free. Back at the campsite we found out from the Belgians (who had already been to all the sites) that Mycenae was the most expensive. So we made a plan to go see more inexpensive sites the next day and hit the expensive ones when they would be free. It would all make a nice loop and save us some Drachma in the process.
Tags: Greece 2005
Luke