Day 20 - 29 September 2016
I decided to have breakfast today as it was only €5.00. Wow, you can't believe the size of the breakfast: Bread, boiled egg, ham, cheese, yogurt & honey, fruit and biscuits and cakes and water, fresh orange juice and coffee. On helluva spread. I only had what I could, but I must say the yogurt and honey (the honey comes in a jar and you decide how much you have!) was delicious.
Niko, the owner of Pegasus Rooms organized a taxi to take me to Ancient Nemea and bring me back for €40.00. I took this option based on the time it took to get to Ancient Corinth. Yannis, the taxi driver picked me up at 09:00 and off we went. It was a 30 minute drive to get there. Every time you take a corner and see the remains of a temple, it just takes your breath away.
Nemea was famous for two things - the first being the Nemean Lion that Herakles had to kill. This was task number 1 of 12. Of course he managed to kill the lion by wrestling it to the ground and skinning if using its own claws. Herakles forever after wore its pelt. That is why you can always identify a statue as Herakles. He's always wearing that lion. The second was the Nemean games. With the Isthmian Games, the Nemean Games were held both the year before and the year after the Ancient Olympic Games and the Pythian Games in the third year of the Olympiad cycle. Like the Olympic Games, they were held in honour of Zeus. They were said to have been founded by Herakles after he defeated the Nemean lion another myth said that they originated as the funeral games of a child named Opheltes. However, they are known to have existed only since the 6th century BC (from 573 BC, or earlier). The winners received a wreath of wild celery leaves from the city of Argos.
The archaeological site was really interesting. Three of the pillars have remained standing since antiquity.
What they have done is reconstruct four more pillars. There was an interesting exhibition on site that showed exactly how this is done. You can check the photo album. After all that, I went to the archaeological museum. There were some really beautiful Mycenaean gold work. No photos. They had been stolen and eventually recovered in Miami. Stored in really state of the art cases. After that, it was off to the stadium. Once again I was the only one there. The modern Nemean games are held here every 4 years. I walked through the secret tunnel that the athletes used thousands of years ago.
Once I was done, Yannis took me back to Ancient Corinth. I gave him €50.00 because I felt safe the entire trip.
I did my washing!
The room with the washing - that's mine!
Part of the service at the hotel was free use of their washing machines. Got that up to date and spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the courtyard reading. Had a late afternoon nap, went for a walk. Had an ice cream. Relaxed some more, had dinner and off to bed. A really lazy day, but all I had planned was Nemea.
Ancient Nemea
Pegasus Rooms
Ancient Corinth- Roman Theatre
Ancient Corinth - The Town
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