Interlude I: A brief history of my visits to Mycenae

Visits to Mycenae tend to clump and get blurred along various lines - the pre-uni, the uni and the post-uni lines are some, with the latter being further split into pre- and post-Simon visits.

Pre-uni visits
I have photographic evidence of my having visited at least once before 1988, the year with Cathy. I remember nothing about this visit at all, even though I have found photographs which I took of the lion gate and the treasury of Atreus. This visit was quite possibly as far back as 1981.

After this I went in the spring of 1988 with a school trip, and again in the spring of 1990 with a school trip and then again in the spring of 1991 by organised tour (hock ptooiee) with Big George. I had a camera with me in '88 (an automatic) and '90 (a proper SLR). Not sure about 1991. One thing that comes immediately to mind about these three visits is that I climbed out on top of the lion gate in 1988 and sat next to the lions for a photo opportunity, and did the same on the lintel of Atreus in 1990. We went down the cistern all three times, the last time burning end- and front-papers from the new prose translation of the Iliad with the Corinthian pot image on the front, in order to be able to see. On one of these visits, most probably the 1988 visit, the gates at the back end of the citadel were open, and I remember walking outside and then back in again, something not possible on later visits because of locks and / or silting up of the doorways.