Mycenae: Treasury of Atreus (tomb)

View from Mycenae

Mycenae museum: necklaces, perfume bottles

On Wednesday morning we went to Mycenae with a tour guide and saw an incredible beehive tomb (Treasury of Atreus) that had been built into a hill!  It was just incredible, I really can’t fathom how people figured out how do these things so many years ago!  Our tour guide said they don’t know who the person was because the tomb was raided, but that other structures of the same sort had been found across Greece and they were all tombs.  It didn’t have any inscriptions to identify the person either.

Mycenae: Treasury of Atreus

Mycenae: Treasury of Atreus (tomb)

Once we were finished looking at the tomb, she took us on a short tour of the Mycenae Archaeological Museum where we saw artifacts from the Mycenae Acropolis.  I took pictures of a couple of items/exhibits that I found interesting.  One item was a big vase-shaped thing that they used to bury the dead!  They also had many small perfume bottles, combs, and pieces of jewelry on display.

When we were finished in the museum, we climbed the acropolis and got to see the beautiful view and some ruins up at the top.

Mycenae: archaeological dig at the bottom

Pithos burial – ancient casket!

After Mycenae, we got back on the road.  Our tour director let us stop at one point to walk over a bridge that crossed the Corinth Canal so we could take pictures.  The water was fantastically blue and the canal was pretty amazing.  It would be interesting to read about how it was built.

The Corinth Canal

Pottery store demonstration

Pottery store demonstration

Pottery demonstration

On our way to Athens, the tour bus stopped at a pottery shop so we could see a  demonstration and of course shop.  A man made a vase while our group watched and then we were shown the molds that they use to make some of their statues and the painting process that makes the statues appear to be antiques.

Greek Salad

Moussaka

For lunch we stopped at a place on the water and had a Greek Salad and moussaka.  Once again, so much better than the Italian food that we had.  Never in a million years would have seen that coming!

When the tour bus arrived at our hotel in Athens that afternoon, I worked on rearranging things in my suitcases for a while, and then mom and I went for a walk by the beach.  Again it had gorgeous blue water, but this time the beach was very rocky, unlike the beach in Tolon.

Athens, Greece