PeloPonneseArGOLISPeloPonneseGET TINGT
HE
rE & AWAYPeloPonneseTIr
YNSStaikos Tours (%27520 27950; Bouboulinas
50; h8.30am-2.30pm & 5.30-9pm) Helpful out-
fit offers Avis rental cars and full travel services.
Tourist police (%27520 98728; Eleftherias 2)
8 Getting There & Away
The KTEL Argolis bus station (%27520 27423;
http://www.ktel-argolidas.gr; Syngrou) has buses to
Athens (€13.10, 2½ hours, 11 to 13 daily) via
Corinth Isthmus (Peloponnese) KTEL bus sta-
tion (€6.50, 1½ hours). Other services include
the following:
Argos (€1.60, 30 minutes, hourly)
Epidavros (€2.90, 45 minutes, six Monday to
friday, four Saturday, one Sunday)
Galatas (€8.20, two hours, two daily except
weekends)
Kranidi (€7.70, two hours, four Monday to
friday, three Saturday, one Sunday)
Mycenae (€2.90, one hour, three Monday to
friday, two Saturday)
Tolo (€1.60, 15 minutes, nine to 12 daily)
Tripoli (€6.70, 1½ hours, two daily)
8 Getting Around
Call a taxi (%27520 29096) or head to the
rank on Sygrou. Car-hire agencies include the
following:
Avis (%27520 24160; http://www.avis.gr; Boubouli-
nas 51)
Bounos Rent a Car (%27520 24390; http://www.
bounos-carrental.com; Sygrou 14)
Hermes Car Rental (%27520 25308; http://www.
hermestravel.gr; Sygrou 18)
Tiryns Τίρυνθα
The Mycenaean acropolis of Tiryns (% 27520
22657; adult/concession €3/2; h8am-7pm), 4km
north of Nafplio, is the apogee of Mycenae-
an architectural achievement. Legend has it
that its massive walls, 7m thick in parts, were
built by a Cyclops. You can stroll around the
immense stonework and explore the Upper
and Lower Citadels, but the vaulted passage-
ways, the secret stairway and the impressive
gallery are off-limits. Any Nafplio–Argos bus
can drop you outside the site.
Built in the 13th century BC, this World
Heritage site in its heyday was second only
to Mycenae in terms of regional importance.
The layout of some of the ruins is easy to
make out, and there are few crowds. The site
has little in the way of signs or descriptions,
so it’s worth buying Tiryns (by Dr Alkestis
Papademetriou; €8) at the ticket office.
Epidavros Επίδαυρος
In its day Epidavros (%27530 22009; adult/
concession €6/3; h8am-7pm), 30km east of
Nafplio, was famed as far away as Rome as
a place of miraculous healing. Visitors came
great distances to this Sanctuary of Asclepius
(god of medicine), set amid pine-clad hills, to
seek a cure for their ailments. Today visitors
are drawn more to this World Heritage site’s
remarkably well-preserved theatre, which
remains a venue during the Hellenic Festival
(p 94 ) for Classical Greek theatre, first per-
formed here up to 2000 years ago.History
Legend has it that Asclepius was the son of
Apollo and Coronis. While giving birth to
Asclepius, Coronis was killed by the jealous
Apollo, who’d found out that she’d been un-
faithful to him. Apollo took his son to Mt
Pelion, where the physician centaur Chi-
ron instructed the boy in the healing arts.
Asclepius became a healer of such great
renown that he brought a man back from
the dead, which angered Hades, the god of
the underworld, who asked Zeus to strike
Asclepius down. Zeus did so, provoking, in
turn, the wrath of Apollo, and Asclepius was
eventually deified.
Apollo was worshipped at Epidavros in
Mycenaean and Archaic times, but by the
4th century BC he had been superseded by
his son. Epidavros became acknowledged as
the birthplace of Asclepius. Although the af-
flicted worshipped Asclepius at sanctuaries
throughout Greece, the two most important
sites were at Epidavros and on the island of
Kos. The fame of the Epidavros sanctuary
spread, and when a plague raged in Rome,
Livy and Ovid came to Epidavros to seek help.VISITING EPIDAVROSIf visiting Epidavros on your own by car,
follow the signs to Ancient Theatre of
Epidavros, and not to P Epidavros (Paleia
Epidavros) or A Epidavros (Archaia Epi-
davros) – the two latter are both signs to
the seaside village of Ancient Epidavros.
Incidentally, Archaia Epidavros (formerly
Paleia Epidavros) is home to the so-
called ‘small theatre’, also used for some
Hellenic Festival (p 144 ) performances;
the ‘large theatre’ referred to on festival
programs is at the main Epidavros site.