Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus and Archaeological Site of Mystras

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus is where the day begins. Next is Archaeological Site of Tiryns.

2. 2. Archaeological Site of Tiryns

   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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Archaeological Site of Tiryns comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Archaeological Site of Mystras.

3. 3. Archaeological Site of Mystras

   Mystras is a whole Byzantine city draped down a steep hillside, a few kilometres west of modern Sparta, at the foot of the Taygetos mountains. It began in 1249, when William II of Villehardouin, a Frankish prince ruling the Peloponnese after the Fourth Crusade, built a castle on the summit. Within a few years the Byzantines had taken it back, and Mystras grew into the capital of the Despotate of the Morea, a centre of learning and art in the last centuries of the empire. The philosopher Gemistos Plethon taught here, and in 1449 Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine emperor, was crowned here before leaving for Constantinople, where he died when the city fell in 1453.

   Read the complete Archaeological Site of Mystras write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 154 km into the recorded legs you reach Archaeological Site of Mystras. Next is back through Archaeological Site of Tiryns.

4. 4. back through Archaeological Site of Tiryns

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Archaeological Site of Tiryns write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Archaeological Site of Tiryns, late in the day. Next is Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus.

5. 5. Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus. That is the ride.