CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 343 km round trip from Koutsopódi - roughly 6 h 28 in the saddle. On the way it passes Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus, Monastery of Daphni and back through Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The Lion Gate is the thing everyone remembers. Two stone lionesses, facing each other across a central column, stand over the entrance to the citadel, carved some three and a half thousand years ago in the Bronze Age, and the walls beside the gate are built of boulders so huge that later Greeks thought only the Cyclopes could have lifted them. Inside is a royal burial ground, the Grave Circles, where in 1876 the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann found gold masks and weapons, and declared that he had looked upon the face of Agamemnon. The mask is older than Agamemnon would have been, but the name stuck.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Mycenae write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archaeological Site of Mycenae is where the day begins. Next is Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus.
Drop a coin in the centre of the orchestra at Epidaurus and people sitting in the top row, fifty-odd rows above, will hear it. The theatre of the sanctuary of Asklepios, built in the fourth century BC, is famous for its acoustics and its almost perfect state of preservation, and it still hosts performances of ancient drama during the summer festival. But the theatre was only part of the sanctuary. Epidaurus was the most famous healing centre of the ancient Greek world, where the sick came to sleep in the sacred buildings and hope that the god Asklepios would visit them in a dream with a cure.
Read the complete Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is Monastery of Daphni.
Daphni sits beside the Sacred Way that ran from Athens to Eleusis, on the western edge of the city, and it is one of the finest Byzantine monuments in Greece. The monastery was founded in the early Christian centuries on the site of a temple of Apollo, and the present church dates from about the eleventh century, with a dome set on a square plan and eight sides inside. The mosaics are the reason to come. In the dome the Christ Pantocrator looks down with a stern, brooding face, and around the walls are scenes from the life of Christ in gold and deep colours. The best are the Baptism, the Crucifixion and the Anastasis, with figures drawn with grave dignity.
Read the complete Monastery of Daphni write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 171 km into the recorded legs you reach Monastery of Daphni. Next is back through Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus, late in the day. Next is Archaeological Site of Mycenae.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Mycenae write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Archaeological Site of Mycenae. That is the ride.
Archaeological Site of Mycenae → Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus → Monastery of Daphni is 127 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Monastery of Daphni → back through Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus is 126 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus → Archaeological Site of Mycenae is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.