“I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon!” – Mycenae

Anthony and I woke up early to drive to Ancient Mycenae, en route to Athens. Well, we wanted to get there early, but got insanely, hopelessly lost. So we got there at normal time.

Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north. From the hill on which the palace was located one can see across the Argolid to the Saronic Gulf.

In the second millennium BC Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilization, a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece. The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference to Mycenae. (source)

The ruins were absolutely extraordinary. From the Grave circle where Schliemann discovered 31kg of gold (including a mask that he boasted was Agamemnon’s, but was most likely much older than his) to the Treasury of Atreus to the awe inspiring views, it was amazing to see.

As we wandered through the ruins, this little guy decided to follow us on our journey!

We named him Schmuelly.

After we walked around for a few hours in the chilly air and took in the whole site, we left Mycenae and headed to the only open restaurant for lunch.

It was meh. We shared some meatballs (came with unordered potatoes) and a greek salad. Want some feta with that?

After that, we drove into Athens and enjoyed our first evening.