Moving on to Kalamata, Greece

Our airbnb in Kalamata is lovely.  Spacious and well lit.  I don't know if it is true all over Greece, but in Athens and in Kalamata an apartment home is not a home if it does not include at least one balcony or several.

Our new guide, Ioannis, picked us up at 9am in his car.  Mike wanted me to sit up front so I would have the best views.  We made our way to the National Highway (actually privately owned so they can charge what ever they want for this toll road).  We were on our way to Mycenae - and there are no views along this road - it is the same route the bus took to get us from Athens to Kalamata.  We kept the windows open on the way.  There was some weird-ass torture devise on the front passenger seat.  Imagine the worst massage chair you have ever been in - with large knobs poking into your back.  He gave me a pillow to help - but the devise forced me to sit so far forward that my knees were touching the dashboard.  My back was killing me the hour and 50 minutes it took to get to Mycenae.  I took more pain killer.  We arrived to a full parking lot - and finally parked on the road leaving the area.  Then we headed for the entrance which is called the Lions Gate.  The third picture shows the lions minus their heads.  It is supposed that the heads were of a different stone, which has since been destroyed.  This is another World Heritage site.  Think Homer and his writings.

As always things are uphill.  This time it was mostly ramps, not stairs which is easier.  Below is grave circle A.  They found many people buried here - most likely the elite.

 They had a monopoly on grain and its storage- below buildings were probably storage rooms.

You can see the sea, way off in the distance.

 This doesn't do a very good job - but I was trying to show the distance we had to climb to get to the top of the site.

 Then on to the museum.  Here is a topical view.

 I thought these figures were cool.

 They did recover some fresco's - showing normal life then.

It is speculated that this is the golden burial mask of Agamemnon.  No proof that it is true.

 Ancient Mycenaean jewelry.

 Animal figures - reminded me of some I have from Mexico

 Beaded jewelry - don't we have similar stuff now?

 I liked the pot below with the wavy lines.  It was around the geometric period, but unusual.

More human figures - some in pot form.

 Another popular motif - snakes.

A short ways away was Agamemnon's beehive tomb.  So called because of its shape.  Notice the triangle above the door.  The doors were usually made out of wood which doesn't last.

Ceiling of the beehive tomb.

 Next we drove towards Nafplio for lunch  I was taking pictures through the car window - trying to show all the balconies.  I love the star burst on the car window.

 A Greek Orthodox Church.  Our guide told us that 97% of Greeks identify as Greek Orthodox.  But most only celebrate Christmas and Easter.

Nafplio is a beach tourist town.  Really pretty cute.  We went to a square where a lot of restaurants were located.  I had grilled gilt head fish which was very good. It was a whole fish, which some people might thing is awful, but it really tastes good.  Mike had a lamb dish that he loved and our guide had fried squid.  Below - tourist central.

 This was at the restaurant.  When I showed Michael the picture, he said, "did you break your sun glasses?"  No - these are just reflections.

Fried Cheese that was very tasty.

A national bank with Mycenaean columns.

 More street scenes.

There is a local castle up on the hill - various  shots of it.

 And photos along the waterfront.

 Can you figure out what this is?

On the 2+ hours return trip to Kalamata, we were extremely hot and uncomfortable.  Ioannis has no air conditioning in his car.  When we got back to our apartment we researched rental cars and decided to spring the extra money to get one with air conditioning.  So tomorrow we will go to pick it up to use for the next three days.  We shall be much happier!