37:38.34N 023:09.63E
Muskrat
Chris and Alison
Tue 2 May 2023 18:53
We left Poros in no wind and a steady drizzle of rain! The temperature recently has dropped considerably and is now struggling to reach 20’c so with the rain we are feeling rather cold. We had to continue to motor all the way to ancient Epidavros so Chris made some fresh drinking water and we charged all our laptops, iPads, phones and cameras on the way.
Arriving in Epidavros there were a lot of charter boats heading out, something we were very thankful for. On Saturdays the charter fleets have their change over day so on Sunday and Monday they all start heading out from Athens to visit the Peloponnese. That is another reason we are going to Athens now, before the summer really starts and you are unable to get in anywhere. We anchored in the bay just off the town quay, how lucky it was we did this and not go alongside. About half an hour after we had anchored a flotilla of about 14 yachts arrived and piled onto the town quay rafting up and squashing in where they could.
We were thinking, during the passage, that once we had arrived, we could rig up the rain catcher again and collect more water. The rain persisted for the passage from Poros to Epidavros but as soon as the rain catcher had been rigged on our arrival, it stopped!
We walked to the small amphitheater, Doctors Tomb and sunken Roman villa but intend to head inland to see the famous amphitheatre that is about 10km inland.
Small amphitheatre at ancient Epidavros.
The Doctors tomb
02/05/23
Weather: Rain, cloudy and chilly. Temp 16-18’c
With the wind and rain due to start again in the afternoon we decided to go to ancient Epidavros in the morning. It was about 10km inland and up a very steep mountain, to walk would have taken us hours along main roads so we found a taxi, negotiated a price to take us to the site, wait for us and bring us back, €45.
On the way there the rain started and we thought that we were in for a very soggy site seeing but by the time we arrived the rain stopped and it even warmed up a bit for time we were there.
The sanctuary of Epidavros was dedicated to Asklepius, the god of medicine. The site was very well fed by water running off the mountains that surrounds it and so it was with this water and with some questionable methods of healing, that might have included hallucinating drugs, that Asklepius was said to have healed the sick. Asklepius was worshiped at various sanctuaries, the two most famous being Epidavros and Kos where Hippocrates, the father of medicine, is said to have worked. People came to these sites to be healed but they also developed into social centres, with athletic contests and theatres, Epidavros was one such centre with the largest and best surviving amphitheatre from the classical period that could hold up to 12,000 people.
Epidavros amphitheatre
Asclepius healing the sick.