BASSAE, Part one
In April or May 1966, I met another English woman in Olympia exploring Greece and when I told her I was going to Bassae the next day she decided to join me. Now looking back, I can’t imagine how I travelled alone in a country the language of which I did not know.
We set of in the local bus, you know the one with all the baggage on the roof and picking up people from the local market taking live chickens home, all very jolly.
As soon as the bus arrived in Andritseana we were met by a hotel owner and the taxi owner and were soon on our way to visit the temple of Bassae.
At some time there had been a shower of rain and I vividly remember the taxi driver holding his big black umbrella and shouting to us that it was time to go back. We were having a great time scrambling over the ruins and counting the columns.
No scrambling on the ancient ruins allowed now, the major sites can be seen behind ropes.
From my old guide book
“The Temple of Bassae … is situated in a serene and lonely landscape (altitude 1,150m.), surrounded by fields and some old oak trees; the plateau falls away abruptly to the E (hence the ancient name Bassae), where mountain streams have carved out steep ravines.”