A bit of a crack and an encounter with hairy little bastards

During our time in Greece we have visited a number of the big archaeological sites including Olympia, Mycenae and Messini, all offering spectacular ruins spread over large expanses of ground. So it was nice to visit one of the smaller sites at Asine a couple of kilometres from where we had spent four relaxing days on a campsite where laundry and cleaning was carried out and the spaniels romped on the beach. 

The original inhabitants would have loved these stairs

Asine is built on a steep outcrop of rock overlooking the modern resort of Tolon and, looking at its history, it’s amazing anything has survived. Founded around the 10th century BC it was razed to the ground by the Argives some 300 years later after the inhabitants had rashly joined in an invasion of Argives territory and left it in ruins. What was left suffered even more damage 2,600 years later when, during the Second World War, occupying Italian troops took it over as a defensive position, and further damaged the ruins. Enough remains to appreciate the cisterns built into the rock to catch and store drinking water, and what is left of a stone dwelling at the top of the hill with glorious views across the bay.

We had originally planned to head round the smallest peninsula of the Peloponnese but we had noticed a crack in Florence’s windscreen, caused no doubt by an encounter with one of the many potholes. A call to our insurance company confirmed the glass could be replaced but, being Greece, no one quite knew when. So we headed back to Nafpoli and resumed position in the large car park overlooking the bay and waited for events to unfold.

Asine artefacts

Gold never decays

Our enforced stay did give us the opportunity to visit the local archaeological museum where we were delighted to see among the displays, artefacts from Asine. As well as the usual pots, ornaments and spear heads I was fascinated by a skeleton of a man, almost completely intact. Here was I, in the second decade of the 21st century, looking down on the remains of someone who had walked, talked and breathed the air of Greece 3,000 years before. 

He’s been lying around for three millennia

You really don’t want to mess with these

We had planned to take the pups along the lovely cliff path we had discovered on our previous stay. But when Neri returned from her run it was to report that the path was crawling with pine processional moth caterpillars. For anyone not familiar with these rather unpleasant creatures, they are covered in fine hair which they can release when threatened. They are toxic to humans and often fatal to dogs. They are easily spotted because they travel nose to tail in long lines, hence their name. We confined our walks to the quay and surrounding paths. Even then we spotted more of them under the only pine tree we passed. We will have to watch out for these as spring advances. 

Waiting for the adhesive to bond

There was positive news about the windscreen. The insurance company phoned to say they had identified a local repairer and we were booked in on Thursday. We celebrated with lunch on a quayside taverna. The next morning we drove down a series of rough lanes to a small garage where we left Florence and took the spaniels for a walk dodging the various Greek guard dogs that seem to be attached to every property. We then spent three hours sitting in the van waiting for the bonding agent to dry before the friendly repairman would allow us to depart. We have a short journey to New Epidavros this afternoon where we will overnight. Tomorrow we begin the journey north towards Corinth and Athens

The ancient Greeks did like a pot around the place

Mycenaen bronze armour from c1500BC