After leaving Preveza we anchored for a night in the delightful Two Rock Bay with it’s Christal clear water. Then we moved onto Finari and the village of Ammoudia for our next foray into the wake of the Gods. Despite its rather hellish links of “The Gateway to the Underworld”, it is quite a nice small fishing village. The river Acheron runs along the side of the village from the ancient site of Necromanteion and out to sea in the bay. 

Necromanteion was well worth a visit despite the fact that it was a 3 mile walk from the anchorage in what is now, very hot temperatures. We started off early to make the most of the coolish morning. We had hoped that we could walk along the river bank to the site, but unfortunately there was only one way to get there and that was along the main road that was very straight and very hot walking on tarmac. We were about half way, when a very pleasant fisherman offered us lift as he was going to the next village to sell his fish and said that it was far too hot for us to walk all that way. He had a small open back truck, so Chris got in the back of the truck, with the fish, and I got in next to the fisherman. We had a lovely chat about difference of the weather in Greece to England.  I think he eventually decided that he did prefer the Greek weather to the British. He dropped us off when he pulled in for some petrol and directed us to the site that was only a five minute walk from there. 

Necromanteion is a jolly spot being the so called entrance to the underworld where in ancient times the Greeks would come to visit the dead soles. Those wishing to speak to the dead would stay at Necromanteion to be prepared for the encounter both physically and mentally. Doing this would involve elaborate ceremonies of consuming a meal of broad beans, pork, barley bread, oysters and a narcotic compound. Following a cleansing ceremony and the sacrifice of sheep, the faithful would descend into the inner sanctum through a labryrinth of meandering corridors leaving offerings as they passed through a number of iron gates then into the hall where you could listen to the voices of the dead souls. The most impressive part of the building is the underground crypt that is supported by 15 arches. It is built in such a way as to creat a ceiling that is as thin as possible so that the souls of the dead could be heard in the hall above. The floor is hewn from rough bedrock and full of crevices, which allowed the dead to emerge from Hades (the underworld) into the crypt. While you can now enter the crypt, back in the 4th or 3rd century BC it was completely sealed with no way in or out.

Vonitsa

Nekromanteion 

The underground Crypt at Nekromanteion 

Printing on the side of a fishing boat in Ammoudia