Wednesday 8th October 2025 – Near Bozikas, Greece

We watched two drivers of very long, wide and high motorhomes trying, delicately, to extract themselves from the tight site. I wanted to pay but the site owner was also watching them very carefully and asked me to wait until they had left. He shook his head and said “too large” and I agreed with him, especially on a small site.
We had seen all of the major sites in the area but I found one that we hadn’t visited. The Heraion of Argos was only a couple of kilometres off our planned route, looked interesting and was even free. When we arrived, only the custodian’s car was in the car park but a few more people arrived later.
We have been pleased that the sites that we have visited lately have had reasonable information boards but this site was an old-fashioned Greek site. There were no signs at all, even in Greek, not even a map of the site. We were lucky that I had brought an old guide to some archaeological sites in the Peloponnese, which had a small section on the Heraion, including a map of the site. Although this is not a major site for modern visitors, it was a very important site in ancient times. The earliest habitation on the site was 3000 BC but the earliest remains found date to the Mycenaean times (1500 – 1300 BC) and a Mycenaean road ran from here to the cities of Mycenae (one hour’s walk away) and Argos (two hour’s walk away). The visible remains on the site date to the 7^th century BC through to Roman times. In the 7^th century BC a sanctuary to Hera (hence Heraion) was built and was the centre of the cult of Hera and remained so well into Roman times. It was a very important site and every year a procession came from Argos with 100 sacrificial cattle followed by Hera’s priestess in a chariot drawn by two cows.
We walked all over the site using our guidebook to understand the layout and the purpose of the buildings – without that it would have been very difficult to interpret it.
We had lunch back in the van before heading on to the wine-producing area of Nemea.
Approaching Nemea there are a few stalls selling local produce – oil, honey, fruit and Nemea wine. We bought some wine from one of these stalls on our last visit and it was excellent, so I did the same again – 2 litres of red wine for €7. We drove on through Nemea, stopping at a minor, open, archaeological site on the outskirts before climbing into the mountains. Everywhere there were vineyards. In 2022 we visited the Nemea Cooperative Winery and during the guided tour, we were told that over 500 growers brought their grapes to the winery and it was obvious as we were driving that many of the vineyards were small and independently owned. We were intrigued by empty, open areas of ground next to the farmhouses that could be covered by netting. We came up with a number of ideas about what they could be used for and one of those turned out to be correct. As we got higher, some of the areas were still in use – grapes were being dried in the sun, protected by the netting or plastic sheeting. Apparently, this area is famous for its production of sultanas, raisins and currants.
We found a flat area next to the road at an altitude of approximately 850 metres and with lovely views over olive trees and vines down into the valley below. This would be our wild camping spot with the tinkle of goat bells in the distance.
As the sun went down we witnessed a wonderful sunset. Lights twinkled in the villages below and the red lights of wind turbines flashed in the distant mountains. Shortly afterwards there was distant howling. We had heard this before at other campsites and had put it down to dogs but it didn’t really sound like dogs. After Googling, we discovered that we were hearing Golden Jackals, the population of which is on the rise in Greece. That was followed by Tawny Owls calling but we still haven’t heard Little (or Athena) Owls, much to our disappointment.
Photos: View from the old Hera temple over the ‘new’ Hera temple to Argos below the first hill in the distance on the left – can you see the 100 sacrificial cattle and the priestess’s chariot on the way to the Heraion?; This square building was the banqueting house with three rooms on the closest side that had benches and fixed tables; Some of the many vines just beyond Nemea; A view down from the high road over some of those enigmatic open areas; Enigma solved – grapes drying under the covers; Our wild camping stop; The magnificent sunset.