Peloponessian tour

Ancient Myceana was really amazing. The Mycenaeans dominated Greece from the 16th to the 12th centuries BC. That's about 3500 years ago and it's incredible that anything remains still standing. The Fortress is the stuff of legends... Perseus, Agammemnon and his golden mask, Achilles of the battle of Troy... it all happened here.
Next stop Epidaurus, home to the largest and best preserved ancient Greek amphitheater. Seats 14,000 and you can hear a coin drop in the dirt at center stage from the highest row... no lie. Epidauris is also know as the center of healing of the classic Greek world. A sort of holistic approach to healing in a beautiful setting complete with spas. In some ways more advanced than our modern day hospitals. Epidaurus was the largest and most important of these Askeplions, as they were known. It was the administrativr center for about 200 of them disbursed through the ancient Greek world. ( I saw one earlier on Samos).
Overnighted in the beautiful seaside town of Napflio. Felt more like Italy that Greece. Amazing restaurants (I settled for pizza... low budget tour!) and people out and about and dressed to the nines.
Next stop Sparta, home of Leonidas, the great warrior whose army of 300 stood against the might of the Persian empire at Thermopylae in 480BC. Not much remains of ancient Sparta but I need to rest and recharge for a couple days and modern Sparta is a nice small city with good hotels and restaurants, so I booked 3 nights before heading to Athens. The hughly important Byzatine city of Mystra is about 5km from here up in the mountains... more on that later.

Larry