Friday 9th May 2008

We left the immaculate, most un-Greek but very comfortable, campsite and headed for more ruins. Nestor's Palace lies a few miles inland on a hill with commanding views down to Navarino Bay. On the way we passed many signs to Mycenaean tombs including many royal tholos tombs – this was a very rich area ruled by powerful kings. The rule of Nestor is very much tied up in Greek Mythology but he was a real Mycenaean king who ruled the area in the 13th century BC. His palace is the best preserved example of a Mycenaean palace and gives us a fascinating insight into Mycenaean life. It was in this palace that hundreds of clay tablets were found written in the ancient Mycenaean languages known as Linear A and Linear B. For many years after their discovery, these could not be deciphered and it was only in 1952-3 that two Britons, Ventris and Chadwick, established that both scripts were an early form of Greek. The tablets were only used for lists and administration, no Linear A or B novels or poems have been discovered but the contents of the tablets are still intriguing. The two main 'archive' rooms that contained hundreds of tablets seem to be associated with tax collection and administration, recording tax paid, debts due, distribution of goods etc. There are many storerooms in the palace and tablets found on huge olive oil jars described the qualities and flavours of the oil within. We learnt that they called their domestic pets such names as 'Whitefoot', 'Bawler', 'Darkie', 'Winey' and 'Blondie'. The clay tablets were only preserved because they were baked by the fire that destroyed the palace around 1200 BC – every cloud has a silver lining, although the Mycenaean residents may not have seen it that way. The palace had no defensive walls, another sign of the power of the rulers and Nestor had a large navy, second only to Agamemnon. However, leaving nothing to chance, there were guards stationed in the palace, two at the entrance and two by the door into the 'throne room' with its huge central, circular hearth, frescoed walls, tiled floor and royal throne where the king would receive visitors. Although we were very (and unnecessarily?) restricted as to where we walk, especially outside of the main palace building, it was still a magical site and well worth the visit. It was also very good value as we learned that all Greek sites were free for three days starting from today – something to do with Europe. This meant that our visit to the archaeological museum in the local village of Chora was also free and we were able to see many finds from Nestor's Palace. Amongst the highlights were example of the Linear A and B tablets, huge amounts of pottery cups, bowls and plates (they must have had huge banquets), large vessels decorated with octopuses and a Venetian gold coin thought to have been dropped when the Venetians were pinching stone blocks from the palace!
On then to more ruins at Messini, which we hoped to approach using fairly minor roads. However, and we had heard this from someone else who attempted the same journey, we saw no signs that bore any relation to the places on our map. We ended up in modern Messini, confusingly a long way from ancient Messini but finally made it to the site at 14:30. Our guidebooks told us that the site closed at 15:00 but, fortunately, only the museum closed at that time and the site was open until 20:00. This gave us plenty of time to view the extensive site. We met an archaeologist working on inscriptions on a large slab, part of a monument with four such slabs. Her job was to record and then translate the previously untranslated inscription and the result would form the basis of a speech to be given to a conference by her professor. She told us that the slab recorded a treaty between Megalopolis and Messini but we didn't find out whether this was before or after the Messinians poisoned a visiting general from Megalopolis! The walls of the city are also very impressive with large selection extant to a large height. We were particularly impressed by the Arcadian Gate which we drove through on the way to and from Messini (see photograph).
We visited my favourite palace earlier and we now drove on to my favourite temple through the beautiful mountain scenery so typical of the Peloponnese. So many people who come to the Peloponnese stick to the coast except when they have to go in land to the next major tourist site – they make a big mistake! Vassae is the site of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios (Apollo the Helper) built in the 5th century BC by the inhabitants of Figaleia in thanks for being saved from the plague of 429 BC. It is probably the best preserved temple in Greece and certainly occupies the most spectacular position of any site that I have seen. At over 1,030m (3,700 ft) it sits majestically on the edge of a mountain surrounded by many other mountains and ravines (Vassae means ravines) – the views are beautiful. It is 11 km to the nearest village – this is a wild land where the inhabitants had to fight hard to eke out a living from the small areas of fertile land, evidenced by the threshing floors cling to the windy slopes.
We knew that there were no campsites in the area and as we got close to Vassae, we noted potential wild camping spots. There were plenty of them and some were in spectacular positions with lovely views. For the uninitiated, the first sight of Vassae is a disappointment as the temple is covered by a vast white tent. This is designed to protect the temple whilst major repair work is carried out.
We arrived at the site at about 19:30 and decided to take a quick look before it closed. Because of the special Europe celebration, it was free but I bought a guidebook and had a brief pigeon Greek / German / English chat with the guardian who actually lives on site. He had already established that we had a motorhome and indicated that he expected us to stay overnight in the car park, which was somewhat surprising given that this is illegal. I asked when he opened in the morning and he answered “with the sun”! So we decided to take up his offer and stayed in the car park on the side of the road, parking lengthways so that we could sit and watch mountains as the colour faded in the sky and they became black jagged shapes against the deep blue.
Photos: The Throne Room of Nestor's Palace with the huge circular hearth and the place for the throne on the right; The bath at Nestor's Palace where Nestor's daughter Polykastra bathed Telemachus, rubbed him in oils and wrapped him in fine clothes so that “he came godlike from the bathing place”; Henrietta negotiating the Arcadian Gate through walls of Messini – this is the main road to the town of Meligalas; The treasury at Messini which is mentioned in ancient texts. The massive stones used to cover the top are also on display.