While in Athens, even if time is short, a day trip to the Peloponnese is recommended. The highway runs west out of Athens and past the ancient site of Eleusis. Once an important Greek religious center with a sanctuary to Demeter and her daughters, Eleusis is today an industrial town overcome with shipping ports, oil refineries, smog, and the persistent waft of diesel fuel. In the distance is the island of Salamis (photo), famed for the Greek naval defeat of the Persians in 480 BC.
Athens sent her 300 ships cleverly trapping and destroying an enemy navy three times its size, thus marking the beginning of a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity, now known as the Classical Period of Athens.
The motorway passes over the impressive Corinth canal (photo). The canal cuts through a small neck of land joining the Peloponnese to mainland Greece. It frustrated sailors since ancient times because it forced them to make long and perilous trips around the coast of the Peloponnese. Despite the efforts of everyone from Alexander the Greek to Nero and Caligula to dig a canal, the 4-mile water passage was not successfully cut through the deep rock until French engineers dynamited their way through in 1893.
A short journey from the canal comes Acrocorinth, a towering rock citadel 1,883 feet high that was the strongest natural fortification in ancient Greece. From its top, on a clear day, one can see the Acropolis of Athens 80km to the East! In Archaic times, the site was topped with a Temple to Athena.
The plains of the Peloponnese are fertile and remain an important source of agriculture for the Greeks including tobacco and citrus farming (Photo).
An hour from the canal, one approaches the placid site of the Palace of Mycenae (photo). Located in a desolate yet picturesque area, this ancient city was made famous when unearthed by Heinrich Schliemann in 1874 as he searched for the ancient temple of Agamennon using details from Homer’s Illiad.
The site is nestled on a plateau protected by two towering mountains, offering an endless view to the valley and sea below (photo).
Schliemann's Mycenae and the Palace of Agamemnon
The path to the archaeological site takes one through the famed Lion Gate (photo) dating to 1250 BC and past the famous Grave Circle A (photo), which contained royal tombs dating back to the 16th century BC. These tombs contained an enormously rich burial of pottery, weapons and gold, including the famed Gold Mask of Agemnenon, most of which is now in the Athens National Museum.
The area is rich in ancient mystery and awe, as well as natural modern beauty with wild flowers and reptiles peacefully at home (photo).
The museum on site contains a trove of amazing Mycenaean Greek artifacts including one of the world’s great collections of terracotta Phi figures (photo) and 16th – 12th Century BC pottery (photo).
Objects from this era occasionally come to market and are highly sought after, especially by collectors with a fondness for 
Homer and the Trojan War.
Stunning masterpieces such as the 13th Century BC painted figure with upraised arms found at 
Mycenae are found throughout the small but efficient museum.
A short distance from the Palace at Mycenae, is the famous tholos (or ‘beehive tomb’) known both as the Treasury of Atreus and The Tomb of Agemnennon (photo). This splendid architectural monument cut into the side of a hill was built contemporaneously with the Lion Gate (1250 BC).
The circular chamber inside is constructed from stone blocks creating a space approximately 35 feet in diameter and height, with a doorway to the north side of the chamber leading to a small, square chamber. No ornamentation survives and judging from the finds at Mycenae, the grave goods (removed in antiquity) would surely have been impressive.
Just beyond the entrance to the Treasury of Atreus, one can view the remains of Schliemann's Mycenae (photo). The view leaves a final visual imprint of just awe-inspiring this area must have been 3,200 years ago.
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