The galleries
Vaulted passages inside the wall, polished smooth by generations of sheep.
Karelksir โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Karelksir โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Karelksir โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Karelksir โ CC BY-SA 4.0
Entry is only **about โฌ4**, and it is sometimes included in combined tickets โ ask. โ **It is 4 km from Nafplio** on the Argos road โ the nearest major archaeological site to the town, ten minutes away. โ **Completely exposed with no shade** and small โ do not go at midday in summer; **half an hour in the morning** is enough. โ **The climb into the citadel is steps and uneven stone ramp**; **not wheelchair-accessible**. โ **The internal galleries are relatively dark and their floors are worn smooth and slippery** โ walk slowly and mind your head. โ **There is very little explanation** โ read about it before going in, or it will look like a heap of stones. โ **Almost no facilities**: no cafรฉ, and limited toilets. โ **It pairs perfectly with Mycenae in one day** (14 km apart) โ start at Tiryns at opening, then carry on north.
๐ฌ Ask on WhatsAppOpen in Google Maps โ**The most massive Mycenaean walls surviving, only four kilometres from Nafplio** โ UNESCO-listed together with Mycenae, and yet most visitors drive past without stopping. It stands on a **low hill** in the plain of Argos, and its walls are why it is known: **blocks weighing tens of tonnes**, the wall in places **more than seven metres thick**. Classical Greeks saw them and could not believe men had built them, so they credited the **Cyclopes** โ the origin of the term "Cyclopean masonry". The best thing here is the **galleries**: corbel-vaulted passages built inside the thickness of the wall itself, still intact and genuinely walkable โ and polished smooth by generations of sheep sheltering in them. โ But calibrate your expectations: **the site is small and its remains are foundations**, with no standing palace and no Lion Gate. โ What earns it: **cheap, very close, and nearly empty** โ you stand on a Mycenaean wall alone, which is impossible at Mycenae.
Vaulted passages inside the wall, polished smooth by generations of sheep.
Stones of tens of tonnes the Greeks attributed to giants.
A dog-legged approach designed to expose an attacker's flank.
Tiryns, 21100 Argolida, Greece
**A genuine archaeological term, and its origin is an ancient Greek misunderstanding.** โ **The definition**: building with **huge, unworked or roughly worked blocks**, laid **without mortar**, with the gaps packed by smaller stones. They are not cut into regular courses as in classical masonry; each block is set where it sits. โ **The name's origin**: **classical** Greeks โ a thousand years after Tiryns was built โ found these walls standing and could not conceive that men had lifted blocks of that size, **so they credited the Cyclopes**, the one-eyed giants of their myths. Ancient historians recorded this in earnest. โ **The important implication**: it means the **Mycenaean civilisation had genuinely been forgotten** by the classical period โ a "dark age" in between, in which writing and memory were lost. โ So standing here, you are closer in time to Pericles than Pericles was to the builders of this wall.
**Yes, and it should come first rather than second.** โ **The practical case**: it is **only 4 km** from Nafplio and **14 km** from Mycenae, so it is **literally on your road**; the charge is **โฌ4**; and the visit is **half an hour**. The cost is almost nothing. โ **The stronger case is sequencing**: Tiryns is **walls with no explanation**; Mycenae is **walls plus palace plus graves plus museum**. Start at Tiryns and you see **Cyclopean masonry on its own** and understand it, then arrive at Mycenae knowing what you are looking at. Reverse the order and Tiryns will seem **duller and poorer** after Mycenae, and you will do it an injustice. โ **And an advantage that does not repeat**: Tiryns is **nearly empty** โ you may be the only visitor, walking a Mycenaean gallery alone. That never happens at Mycenae in season.
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