What a blistering hot day it has been in Greece today! I am one nasty, sweaty mess. Ick. Today we headed to Tiryns, an ancient citadel in southern Greece. It is surrounded on all sides by a massive Cyclopean wall. According to ancient myths, the Cyclops (sons of Mother Earth) built the walls that surrounded the citadels. The rocks that make up the wall are so huge that it made sense that man could not physically do it so the giant Cyclops did it for them. Irini took us outside of the walls through a restricted passage that isn't open to tourists. Pretty sure if we get deported it's going to be for that haha. The enormity of these structures never ceases to amaze me. The ancient civilizations that lived there were also extremely smart when it came to war and defense mechanisms. They had fake staircases that would lead the enemy to believe that they could get to the top of the acropolis, but would really just lead them to waiting soldiers who could attack. After Tiryns we headed to Mycenae. We got explore the Treasury of Atrius which is what Irini referred to as a beehive tomb. The tomb was built very similarly to the pyramids in Egypt except it was built into a hill (as a protective measure against thieves who wouldn't know a tomb was even there) and it was domed at the top just like a beehive. The entrance into it was massive, but once you walked into the thing you realized just how huge the tomb was. It was probably a little over 50 or 60 feet tall from the base to the very center of the dome. They used to just line bodies against the walls and fill these tombs up. Every time somebody needed to be buried they would dig out the entrance to the tomb and then fill it back in again after they were done. That is A LOT of work to just bury someone. When we were standing in the tomb, Irini told us that when she has groups of children she has them put their ears against the wall and somebody will whisper and you can hear it through the rock. So being the big children that we are, we obviously tried it. That was really cool; the echo in there was intense as well. Then we headed up to the citadel of Mycenae. It was very similar to Tiryns, except its entrance gate is still intact. That was pretty cool to see. We also got to go down into the cistern of the citadel (the place underground that they go to get their water). Of course since its deep underground, it is completely dark so we had to use flashlights and phone lights to navigate down it. It was definitely a group effort to make it all the way down to the bottom, but it was really cool! But, once we got down ALL THE WAY to the bottom, Jess and I went to take a picture and not until we looked at it did I realize that I went all the way down into this cave with my sunglasses still on! No wonder it was so freaking dark. We started laughing so hard that I guess we were scaring some French men that were down in the cistern with us because they were shushing us and giving us evil looks. It wasn't the proudest moment of my life that's for sure. After we left Mycenae, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed back to Nafplio. A couple of us headed to the "beach" (which was really a marble slab with ladders that led you to the water) and enjoyed some sun. The water was FULL of sea urchins; Kelsi and Steph jumped in but I wasn't having any of that. After the beach we headed to go get more gelato. This time was even more amazing than last night! Kayla and I shared a mixture of raspberry and chocolate...it was to die for! We are going back to get gelato tonight after dinner (two times in one day, no big deal) and I am soooo getting that again. American ice cream will never be the same now. Oh yea, I filled up my first memory card today. We have been here 10 days and I have taken over 500 pictures. This could get ridiculous.
Gallery at Tiryns
Look how huge the tomb was!
The cistern
Sea urchins!
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