Day 2 of "CYA Explores the Peloponnese" included a very early morning, trips to Epidaurus and Franchthi Cave, and a picnic lunch by the sea. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?
Epidaurus was - if I'm going to be honest - a little disappointing. The site has a lot of potential (they're still working on reconstruction) and the history of the cult there is really cool, but Lecturer/Tour Guide was having difficulty holding my attention (and from the sound of his lecture, his own as well!) with side comments about the gods worshiped here and the construction of the area. The problems with this site are 1) Nobody quite knows what these things are, since none of the stories really tell us anything that doesn't involve supernatural occurrences. 2) The site looks like a pile of rocks, even more so than most other sites I've visited. It's not just that it looks that way in pictures, it looks that way in person, too and that makes things difficult to picture. Anything that looked remotely interesting to explore was roped off for reconstruction and continuing excavation. So, lots of potential, but it's just not there yet. Which is weird, because the site has been open to the public for decades.... ah well. Pictures!
One of the reconstructed areas, which represents an old entrance-way to somewhere (either a gym or a dining hall, they think). You can see the rock piles surrounding it.
One area I found on my own in an area they thought equivalent to some old-style locker rooms (perhaps, if Building #1 was in fact a gym. Otherwise no idea. It looked like the ruins of a bank more than anything else to me. :-P)
More rocks and a mysterious (purpose unknown) semicircle of large benches with a table of sorts in front. A waiting area with checkers, perhaps? Who knows. Also, some reconstruction of a tholos (read: round building) in the background. The existence of that building puzzle archeologists as well.
Part of the remains of the Sanctuary of Aesclepius, the Healing God (we know what something is!)
Some of the detail of the reconstruction(?) of that sanctuary above. This is a wall of sorts between the larger columns.
The East side of the sanctuary reconstruction, with scale CYA class.
Here is the real treat at Epidaurus - the theater. This was mostly not reconstructed and mostly found above ground as is. Performances are still held here (unfortunately only in the summer and not by tourists) and the acoustics are phenomenal. From where this picture was taken, you can hear a coin dropped in the middle of the stage perfectly, even with people around you talking. It's absolutely incredible. JK and I tried to dance on the stage (it's a theater, and a functioning one, so why not?) but they blew the whistle at us. I guess they didn't want people getting excited. Pooh. (JF says she got pics, though.)
The other best part of Epidaurus. On the way in there were puppies, and on the way out there were kittens! Here, in order from left to right, ES, AS and JF giving the cats some love.
After Epidaurus we stopped at a small bakery (far to small for the 40-or-so of us, anyway) and grabbed sandwiches for a picnic lunch by the sea side. The profs weren't paying much attention, so rather than eating on the grassy knoll, we decided to all eat on the rocks.
JF on a rock by the sea.
JK and AS on rocks across the way.
The little church we ate by. We didn't get to to go in (I'm not sure it's open to the public) and no one seemed to be there or care that we were using their front yard as a picnic area.
The Line following a Professor to our next stop, Franchthi Cave. We are quite good at lines, on the whole.
The "path" we took to get there, looking behind us. Good thing the Professor knew where he was going!
Franchthi Cave. This collapsed cave is one of the earliest inhabited areas we have evidence for in all of the Aegean. It's open to the public as in there are no guards and the area is marked off by signposts as an archeological site, but it's difficult enough and dangerous enough to get to that it doesn't get a lot of foot traffic. Apparently the danger level is high enough that CYA doesn't really approve of groups going there, but the professor who took us excavated the area in the seventies and he takes a group every year anyway.
Looking down one of the excavated trenches in the cave, with scale class.
Looking down into the collapsed area of the cave from above. We climbed up some 30 ft on that brightly lit rock two pictures above. It was very fun. :-D
The view back towards the front of the cave from atop the rock.
ES getting back down, which wasn't particularly easy.
We left the cave slowly and walked back along the beach for about an hour before getting back on the bus. We're in Nafplio again, but everyone's too tired to do much tonight. We'll get dinner, gelato and probably call it a night after that. Tomorrow, Mystra and Sparta!
Καλησπέρα!
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