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 314 km round trip from Náfplio - roughly 5 h 48 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.
Homer called it Tiryns of the great walls, and when you stand next to them you see that he was not exaggerating. The citadel rises from a low limestone ridge in the Argolid plain, and its walls are built of blocks so enormous that later Greeks decided only the Cyclopes, one-eyed giants, could have lifted them. The name stuck: Cyclopean masonry. Tiryns was one of the great centres of the Mycenaean world in the late Bronze Age, linked in legend to Heracles, who was said to have served its king, and its galleries are the best part. These long corridors are roofed with corbelled stone vaults, their walls polished smooth over the centuries by sheep sheltering from the weather.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Tiryns write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archaeological Site of Tiryns 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 30 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 157 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 Tiryns.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Tiryns write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Archaeological Site of Tiryns. That is the ride.
Archaeological Site of Tiryns → Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus is 30 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 127 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 Tiryns is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.