Aventuras a Pie (de Página)In this video we explore 4 dragon houses (“drakospiti” or “drakospito” in Greek), which are very ancient buildings built with huge stone blocks.
There exist throughout Greece, including Athens, but they are mainly found in the south of Evia (Euboea).
It is not known with certainty who built them, but it is believed that it was a nomadic people who settled in Evia (Euboia) in 1200 BC.
Their use is not clear and Pausanias does not name them in his accounts.
It is located on a dry hill near the Greek Public Power Company (DEH) power plant in the Milaki village of Euboea and near a cement factory.
From above there is almost a 360-degree view.
It was probably built in the early decades of the Frankish occupation of Euboea in the 13th century.
It is said that a 1.5 km tunnel connects the castle with Milaki.
The castle remained in use at least until the years of the Greek Revolution when it was a prison for the Turks.
The shape of the castle is a trapezoid measuring 46x30m with an area of 1200 square meters. In the center of the enclosure rises the central tower, almost square. Its dimensions: 7.10 x 7.60 meters. It is preserved to an approximate height of 11 meters.
Of the castle walls, the north and west sides are better preserved. The east wall is destroyed. On the south side, only a part in the west is in relatively good condition. The western wall extends approximately to a length of 42 m.
Outside the castle, to the south and to the west, there was a small fortified settlement consisting of small houses with dimensions of 4x4m or 4x5m, with adobe walls without mortar and with wooden roofs.
We explored the Mycenaean cemetery of Aidonia, located in the northeastern Peloponnese of Greece, near Mycenae and Nemea, as well as Lake Stymphalia.
In the video, we show the 25 tombs in the cemetery, plus 7 other tombs we found nearby.
The cemetery is very well maintained and is open to the public free of charge.
A visit takes between one and one and a half hours.
The cemetery contains almost exclusively chambered tombs, which are entirely hewn from the natural rock and consist of an elongated corridor leading from the ground surface to the underground entrance, through which one enters the burial chamber.
Chambered tombs were used throughout the Mycenaean era (c. 1600/1550-1100 BC) and are often arranged in separate groups.
Unlike other tombs of the same style and period, these are more elaborate, with vertical walls, gabled roofs, and ornate entrances.
The cemetery became famous after it was brutally looted by organized groups of antiquities dealers in the 1970s.
An excavation by the Archaeological Service followed, unearthing finds that were linked to the products of the illegal excavation when these became available for sale abroad in 1993.
The Greek state’s swift action led to the repatriation of the antiquities (1996), which were presented along with the excavation finds to the National Archaeological Museum and are now housed in the Nemean Archaeological Museum.
Numerous relics were found, primarily clay vessels and figurines.
The tomb in the lower group had been used repeatedly, not only during the Mycenaean period, but also during the Geometric and Archaic periods and later.
Today we are going to travel to the Peloponnese to visit part of one of the most unknown aqueducts in Greece, the aqueduct of Corinth.
It had 85 kilometers in length and was probably the longest aqueduct in all of Greece.
It was built by order of Emperor Hadrian, connecting one of the 3 springs that feed the Lake Estinfalia with Acrocorinth.
The very curious thing is that we couldn’t find a single photo or video.
Only the work of research by the archaeologists.
Originally it had 23 bridges, of which only 4 are preserved intact and one is only large.
This bridge is 41 meters long and preserves its 2 rows of arches.
Unfortunately the area is not cared for; it is full of garbage and with the vegetation very overgrown.
In this video, we tell you why Greece is paradise for ruin and ancient lovers.
In summary, ancient Greece has left more ruins than anyone can imagine, as well as ruins of all eras, and the majority of the ruins can be visited for free, many of them with free access.
In this video, we show you only a few of the many ruins that Greece has.
The River Acheron (or the “River of Sorrows”) is one of the five mythical rivers of the underworld in Ancient Greece.
Across this river, the ferryman Charon carried the souls of the recently deceased to the realm of Hades in exchange for an obol.
Those who did not pay Charon were left to wander the riverbanks for 100 years, transformed into ghosts.
For this reason, coins were placed on the eyes of the dead at burials.
This river was described in mythology as an unhealthy swamp within a desolate landscape.
However, this mythical river does exist in reality, and that description is far from accurate.
In this video, we explore what the river looks like in the real world.
Locations:
Canyon and Springs (Gliki): https://www.google.com/maps/place/cheron+Springs/@39.3227478,20.6213507,15.21z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x4b24a010905d9dac!8m2!3d39.3276893!4d20.6228352
Beach (Ammoudia): https://www.google.com/maps/place/Acheron+River+Estuary/@39.249551,20.892919,10.46z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xf70edbc106810b24!8m2!3d39.2361423!4d20.4761043
We will explore the Pantocrator Castle (Κάστρο Παντοκράτορα in Greek), one of the castles that protected the Ambracian Gulf mouth, a place of very high strategic importance and the site of the most important naval battle in history.
In this video, we visit the Asclepion and the Roman baths, which are exceptionally well preserved…
Locations:
We will explore the castle of the city of Amfissa, also known as the castle of Salona or Oria, a castle with turbulent history, ranging from remote antiquity to World War II.
It was attacked, besieged, destroyed and repaired many times by Macedonians, Gauls, Visigoths, Huns, Bulgarians, Slavs, Franks, Catalans, Turks and others.
Today, it is a public park, which has a beautiful view of the current city of Amfissa, with multiple pine paths and even a small theater.
Aigosthena is one of the best-preserved fortresses of antiquity and also one of the least known.
Located less than 60km from Athens, in the village of Porto Germeno, it has the best-preserved tower and the most complete “long wall.”
In this video we will tell you a little about its history and show you its ruins.