Epidaurus

Epidaurus began not as a theatre but as a hospital. Pilgrims travelled from across the Mediterranean to the sanctuary of Asclepius, god of medicine, to bathe, rest, follow prescribed diets and sleep in sacred halls where the cure was said to arrive in dreams. Theatre was part of the therapy, and so the sanctuary built the finest one the world had seen.

The theatre is the reason to come, and it does not disappoint. Its fifty-five tiers of limestone curve into the pine covered hillside in proportions so exact that sound needs no help at all: stand at the circular stone in the centre of the orchestra, speak normally, and friends in the top row hear every word. Architects and engineers still study how it was done.

Give the rest of the sanctuary its due as well. The museum and the excavations trace a complex of temples, baths, a stadium and the enigmatic tholos, whose underground labyrinth may have housed the sacred serpents of the god. It is a quieter, greener site than most, and wandering it fills in the story the theatre begins.

With our local team, Epidaurus slots perfectly into the Argolid: Mycenae in the morning, the theatre in the golden afternoon and dinner in Nafplio by evening. And if your dates fall in festival season, we arrange tickets and transfers for a night of ancient drama in the theatre itself, an evening guests talk about for years.