From Athens on our first day we traveled towards the Peloponnese’ “most important” ruins – Mycenae. The lions that adorn the gates to this village are still gracing those same gates, inlaid into what are called the cyclopean walls because the stones are so perfectly cut and laid that the only explanation as to how they were built was that giants (Cyclops) must have built them. Our guide for the day did a good job of explaining “Mycenae” except that we thought she was saying, “My city” and couldn’t figure out where she was referring to for the longest time.
We left Mycenae after an hour or so and drove with our guide to the site of Epidavros where there once was a major surgery center with an adjoining and still used amphitheatre for the patients to take in some entertainment – thought to be good for what ails you.
Our night was spent in the small town of Tolo, supposed to be a good place for the beaches, but we weren’t so impressed.
Day 2 took us first to Napfoli, where we saw May Day demonstrations (May 1) held by a group of communists, and 1000x more tourists just out for the day to eat and drink in this charming tourist town.
Then we headed towards the town of Sparta and a very interesting side trip to the town of Mystera. I would have really liked to have spent some time there poking around in the ruins, which unfortunately were closed for the holiday. 
We did have time to find the ancient ruins of Sparta though, where we could see what the ruins of the other archeological sites would look like if they weren’t being excavated and restored. There was music being broadcasted from across the large fields where we were exploring and the birds were singing in the sunshine. The stones were beautifully languishing, as though they would sit there undisturbed forever. Probably right where they landed after one of Greece’s famous earthquakes centuries before.
