Agamemnon coulda lived here!

Mycenae, Greece

The place King Agamemnon ruled over in legend. An incredibly old citadel in the top right part of the Peloponnese. The whole time we were walking aroundthecorner he ruins, all I could think was "Agamemnon coulda lived here!" Unfortunate that he's probably not real. Then again, he wasn't a very nice person. 

This is a typical sight in the Greek countryside. Dry, a little craggy, with rows of olive trees and other green splotches of shrubs. Striking, yet more and more beautiful every time you see it. 

(Further south, we went to Sparta. I was quite excited (Menelaus coulda lived here!), however it was disappointing. Apparently most of the ancient history is gone forever, so no ruins could be spotted. It was just a boring modern city that we drove through. Such a difference to the Sparta that you read about back in the good ol days. Sure, a lot more bloody, but also a lot more interesting.)

If you look up Mycenae on Google maps, one of the first things you will see is Grave Circle A. This is said grave circle. No quite sure why the graves were put in a circle, but there you have it.

Koroni, Greece

I can't remember how, but somehow we came across a little town called Koroni, in very south of the Peloponnese. We drove through Kalamata on our way there, but did not purchase any olives, as you can buy olives anywhere in Greece. 

Koroni was a quaint little town. The evening we arrived, we walked down to the waterfront along a jumbled path and ate souvlaki while homeless cats stared at us. One of them was particularly mangy, but also endearing, most likely because it was a cat and cats are generally cool. Our table was so close to the sea that if I had moved my chair less than one metre to my right, I would have been in it. 

In the morning, we went down to the same restaurant and had breakfast. Bees joined us, of course, but the cats did not. 

The beach was lovely and unlike most beaches, provided some shade. We spent the whole morning there before we had to get back in the car to head north again, this time to Patras to catch the ferry back to Italy (oh how I love ferries). 

For some reason, there were loads of people at the other side of the beach, and we had our side all to ourselves. It seems the Greeks did not want shade unless it came from their umbrellas. 

I've just now remembered that when we stayed in Thessaloniki, the man at the counter in our hotel pulled out a map and showed us lots of good places to go. Koroni might have been his idea. His English was very good, however at one point he started talking about 'Icelands' and I got a little confused. Worked out that he meant islands when he started pointing to them on the map.