On a visit a few years ago, we also wild camped near here and I set the alarm very early in order to watch the sun rise over the mountains - absolutely magical! At this time of the year sunrise isn't until 07:15 so we could leave the alarm set for 07:00. That was the good news but the bad news was that is was cloudy and still very murky, so there was no spectacular display over the mountains this time.
From our wild camp pitch we could just see the top of the huge white tent-like structure that covers the 5th Century BC Bassae temple. It only took a few minutes to drive there and, once again, we were the only visitors at the site. The cover was a 'temporary' structure in 1987 designed to protect Greece's most complete ancient temple from the elements. Still there it also provides shelter for the consolidation and restoration work that still continues. On site are workshops, one of which is used to produce new stone pieces for the restoration. There were also archaeologists working and from behind a screen a women shouted and started running. When we walked around to the other end of the temple we could see three archaeologist looking at and photographing something on the ground. I asked if they had found something interesting and the woman told me that they had found some copper, probably from the time of the older temple. She was very excited and it was obviously an important find.
Although the cover and the scafolding rather spoils the impression of the temple, it is still a beautiful sight. It is possible to see into the cella (the most holy part of the temple) where there was a wonderful carved stone frieze around the top of the wall. The frieze is currently in the British Museum and is well worth a vist although the Greeks would, understandably, argue that it should be in Greece.
We spent some time looking around the temple and also the wider site where it is possible to see the remains of the older temple. As we got back to the van, some more visitors arrived - a British family!
We drove on to join the E5 further south and just before we got there we came to the village of Lepreo. As we entered the village we came to a sign for the Prehistoric acropolis. A short climb up led us to a chapel and the sparse remains of the site. The view was amazing. At the other end of the village was another sign to an archaeological site of Lepreo and, as is the Greek habit with these signs, there was no indication of how far it was to the site. We have followed many of these signs and given up when there was no further indication of where the site was. Fortunately we had an old Peloponnese guide book that told us that it was 1.7 km and that encouraged us to continue up the very steep and twisty track. The site has a very impressive fortified gateway and walls and also a temple of Demeter at the far end of the site with amazing views over the land to the sea.
We knew that we were not going to get to our next site, Peristerias, before it closed and there were no open campsites nearby, so we drove to Peristerias to wild camp again. Just by the site is a path to a river valley and I walked down to find the gorge through which a stream flows.
Photos:The temple under its cover; The archaeologists recording their find; The covered temple as seen from the older temple site; The temple of Demeter at Lepreo with a large alter in the foreground; Just before we got to the E5, we came across this cafe.
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