Greece - Day 5 - Mycenae

So having piled into Argos late the previous night, we woke up in the morning, full of plans to head to Mycenae and view the home of Agamemnon, and the centre of ancient ancient Greece. The day was pretty overcast, threatening rain for the first time since we landed in Athens.

The citadel sits atop a hill at the head of the valley that looks down towards Argos - it's an impressive structure, constructed of massive blocks of stone. We head into the museum, which is pretty cool; we spend a bit of time trying to work out where everything is from on the site, as the museum has one of those hit-a-button-light-up-the-location models, but either it was constructed incorrectly or some bored scamp has mucked around with the labels... Oh well, we got the general idea anyway, which is subsequently useful, when out a-wandering the site.

Which of course is the next option. Wandering in amongst the excavated buildings is pretty cool - I particularly liked going down into the cistern, which was deep, dank and chillsome. Somehow, Mycenae fails to be as stirring as the ruins of Troy, in spite of it being far more intact - it's a more functional-seeming place, and is somehow the only ancient city I've been to that is (to me) so resolutely unevocative. This is me, underwhelmed by the ruins of a storied ancient city. Go figure. The wind is getting up a bit by the time we're heading out, and a few errant drops of rain are flying about, though it holds off the threatened deluge long enough for us to have a look at the treasury of Atreus (which is actually a tomb) outside the walls.

By the time we get back to Argos, the rain is starting to come down, and our efforts to get to the castle overlooking the city are stymied by a combination of poor road-signage and Dave's poor navigating skills and lots of rain, so we head back, get beers, and have a quiet one with some food from the local supermarket, and Dave's new yacht-racing game on his iPad. My boss calls me to tell me I still have a job, which is nice of him.