Mycenae

A thousand years before the Parthenon, Mycenae ruled: the hilltop citadel that gave its name to Greece's first great civilisation, remembered by Homer as rich in gold and the seat of Agamemnon, who led the Greeks to Troy. Its walls of stones so massive later Greeks credited them to the cyclopes still ring the site, entered through the Lion Gate - Europe's oldest monumental sculpture, two headless lionesses guarding the door for thirty-three centuries. Excavations here stunned the world with golden funeral masks and treasures from the grave circles, and just down the road the Treasury of Atreus, a beehive tomb with a dome unmatched for over a millennium, shows what Bronze Age engineering could do.

What you actually see

• The Lion Gate - walking through the citadel's monumental entrance.
• The grave circles and museum - where the golden masks and treasures emerged.
• The Treasury of Atreus - the great beehive tomb's soaring corbelled dome.
• The palace summit and cistern stair - the megaron floorplan and the eerie underground water passage.

When to go

Spring wraps the citadel in wildflowers and comfortable light; autumn is equally kind. Summer bakes the shadeless hill hard - the site opens early, and the first hour is the sane window. The museum's shade and gold repay the midday hours instead.

Honest expectations

Mycenae asks a little imagination: beyond the gate, walls and tombs, much is knee-high foundation, and Homer supplies the furnishings. The Agamemnon connection is legend layered on real splendour - the guides handle the difference honestly. Ground is rocky and shadeless; proper shoes and water are non-negotiable. Combine with Nafplio and Epidaurus - as a trio they make one of Greece's best days.

Nearby

Nafplio, Epidaurus and Argos sit within easy reach; Corinth's canal is on the road back to Athens.