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 588 km round trip from Ligourión - roughly 9 h 28 in the saddle. The stops in between: Monastery of Daphni, Monastery of Hosios Loukas and back through Monastery of Daphni. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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 is where the day begins. 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.
Monastery of Daphni comes up about 126 km into the recorded legs. Next is Monastery of Hosios Loukas.
Hosios Loukas stands on a shelf of Mount Helicon, in central Greece, in a landscape of olive terraces and grey limestone, overlooking a wide green valley. The monastery was founded in the tenth century around the tomb of a hermit, Saint Luke of Steiris, who lived nearby and died in 953, and who was said to have predicted the Byzantine reconquest of Crete. It is one of the three great Middle Byzantine monasteries, with Daphni near Athens and Nea Moni on Chios, that UNESCO recognises together. Few people outside Greece have heard of it, which is a shame.
Read the complete Monastery of Hosios Loukas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 292 km into the recorded legs you reach Monastery of Hosios Loukas. Next is back through Monastery of Daphni.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monastery of Daphni write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Monastery of Daphni, late in the day. Next is 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 at Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus. That is the ride.
Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus → Monastery of Daphni is 126 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Monastery of Daphni → Monastery of Hosios Loukas is 166 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Monastery of Hosios Loukas → back through Monastery of Daphni is 169 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Monastery of Daphni → Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus is 126 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.