Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting Around
For taxis call
27520 24120 or head to the rank on Syngrou. Car-hire agencies include
the following.
Avis
(
27520 24160; Bouboulinas 51)
Bounos Rent a Car
(
27520 24390;
www.bounos-carrental.com
;
Syngrou)
Hermes Car Rental
(
27520 25308;
www.hermestravel.gr
;
Sigrou 18)
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TirynsΤίρυνθα
Situated 4km from Nafplio, just to the east of the Nafplio-Argos road, is the impressive
acropolis of
Tiryns
( 27520 22657; adult/concession €3/2; 8am-7pm summer, to 3pm
winter)
, an important and underrated Mycenaean acropolis and the apogee of Mycenaean
architectural achievement, especially its massive walls. In parts they are 7m thick and,
according to mythology, were built by the Cyclops.
Tiryns shares equal billing on the World Heritage list with Mycenae, although Tiryn's
setting is less awe-inspiring. The layout of some of the ruins is easy to make out, and
there are few crowds. As yet, the site has no signs or descriptions; it's worth buying a
guidebook, such as
Tiryns
(by Dr Alkestis Papademetriou; €8), at the ticket office. While
further excavations continue, visitors are limited to exploring the Upper and Lower Cit-
adels. Make sure you ask about the location of the gallery, an impressively shaped tunnel
(you can view it from one end, but can't enter).
Any Nafplio-Argos bus can drop you outside the site.
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EpidavrosΕπίδαυρος
In its day
Epidavros
( 27530 22009; admission €6; 8am-8pm Apr-Oct, to 5pm Nov-Mar)
,
30km east of Nafplio, was famed and revered as far away as Rome as a place of miracu-
lous healing. Visitors came great distances to this sanctuary of Asclepius (god of medi-
cine) to seek a cure for their ailments. (Epidavros is sometimes referred to on signs as
Sanctuary of Asklepios.)
Today visitors are more likely to flock to the site for its amazingly well-preserved
theatre, which remains a venue during the Hellenic Festival for Classical Greek theatre
