Today is a designated rest day. We covered over 400 klms in yesterday's drive and we have a similar distance to reach Olympus (our next stop). So 'pottering' is the order of the day... something at which I excel but with which Joye struggles. We did our emails, banking, and post office jobs but could keep still no longer.
We had seen 'brown tourist signs' on the way into town pointing the way to the Acropolis of Zarax... so we headed off to investigate. We turned off busy roads into sleepy back roads... following the frequent directions to our Acropolis. Eventually, the signage stopped... we kept driving... speculating at each bay inlet on the best place to build an Acropolis. There were lots of caves in rock cliffs... so the area was probably popular with Neolithic civilisations. Around a corner, we happened upon a hillside full of tumbled down stone walls... the size of the rocks would require a well organised team of slaves to move... not a farmer's weekend job. There were no signs... no ticket office collecting entry fees... just these big stone walls running through the trees. Could we have stumbled upon a new civilisation? Could we be famous and have lunch with David Leckie? Could we make a film of the Raiders of the Lost Park?
No such luck. Around the next corner of the road was a tiny little sign saying "Epidaurus Limera Archiological Site." We missed out on discovery rights... but the name sounded interesting. Epidavros was the location of the civilisation that sold their medical expertise to the old world... that we had visited three days ago. Do you recall... Gods placing hands on ladies to help with conception problems... having snakes lick the wounds of laceration patients... lots of weird stuff going on there. Had this lot set up an 'outpatients service' in Limera? We hurried back to our hotel to research on the internet.
It turns out that the good burgers of Epidavros saw a vision while holidaying on the island of Kos... forewarning them of the destruction of Epidavros. They hurried back home, shared the bad news with mum and dad, packed their port and headed off. Someone must have known someone who liked Limera... and that's where they settled. Not much archeology has been conducted at the Epidaurus site... there are no reports of them re-establishing their miraculous cure business. The new site appears designed with defence as top priority.
Gee... this place is interesting!
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