Outandabout March 2022 Issue195
Welcome to March 2022 the Spring air has arrived and St Patrick's day will be celebrated again in Benidorm without restrictions. Tourism is already back to pre-covid numbers and the British holidaymakers who love Spain and the Costa Blanca are already on the beach and sunny terraces eating, drinking, and having lots of fun in the sun. The new Out and About magazine is right here to read and find out what's going on in the Costa Blanca region of Spain. Lifestyle and leisure articles and reviews are written by the people who know, business professionals, and members of the public living in Spain. There are also popular pages that include puzzles and horoscopes with a host of supporting businesses that supports the charity work that editor Carol Leavy has undertaken for many years in Spain.
Welcome to March 2022 the Spring air has arrived and St Patrick's day will be celebrated again in Benidorm without restrictions. Tourism is already back to pre-covid numbers and the British holidaymakers who love Spain and the Costa Blanca are already on the beach and sunny terraces eating, drinking, and having lots of fun in the sun. The new Out and About magazine is right here to read and find out what's going on in the Costa Blanca region of Spain. Lifestyle and leisure articles and reviews are written by the people who know, business professionals, and members of the public living in Spain. There are also popular pages that include puzzles and horoscopes with a host of supporting businesses that supports the charity work that editor Carol Leavy has undertaken for many years in Spain.
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18 | OUT AND ABOUT COSTA BLANCA<br />
Magic Travel<br />
Moments<br />
Highlight those (many) travel moments in<br />
my life when things have ‘sparkled’.<br />
by John<br />
David<br />
Moorhouse<br />
DAVID MOORHOUSE.<br />
The Lion Gate (Mikini)<br />
At first approach, it is only partly-visible at<br />
the top of a narrow pathway that slopes up<br />
from a stand of trees.<br />
After snacking at a mobile food-van near the<br />
trees we start to walk up the pathway.<br />
A small site, hemmed in by a low cliff, wThe<br />
pathway is flanked by a poppy-dotted, open<br />
field on one side and the still-impressive Massive<br />
Remains of the Walls of Bronze Age Mikini (spelled<br />
‘Myceni’ in English) on the other side.<br />
At the top of the pathway we are confronted by<br />
The Lion Gate, the Entrance to the Citadel of Mikini.<br />
More correctly described as an Entrance<br />
Passageway, built into the Walls at an awkward<br />
angle<br />
(purposely so - partly for defensive strength<br />
from the ever-present threat of attack by other City-<br />
States),<br />
we walk some 10 metres through the tunnel-like<br />
Passageway before coming out into the open air<br />
again.... and begin to absorb the fascinating Ruins<br />
of this once -impregnable, Bronze Age Citadel,<br />
to marvel at their spell-binding variety.... and we<br />
haven’t even begun to climb up to the top of the<br />
Mound upon which Mikini was built!<br />
But let’s return to The Lion Gate (Entrance<br />
Passageway), to share one particular ‘Magic Travel<br />
Moment’.<br />
The name ‘Lion Gate’ derives from two stonecarved<br />
Lions Rampant, set into the Wall above<br />
the Entrance, one Lion standing on each side of<br />
a single, symbolic pillar, their outstretched front<br />
paws touching the sides of the pillar in a gesture of<br />
proud worship.... these are the unforgettable Lions<br />
of Mikini; they radiate the Bronze Age Power of the<br />
House of Atreus.<br />
As we walk along the Passageway there is a<br />
raised platform on our left upon which once stood<br />
statues of the Guardian Gods of Mikini.... who kept<br />
watch over the daily comings and goings of the<br />
Citadel.<br />
You can still feel their Watchfulness as they (and,<br />
no doubt, armed sentinels) protected the House<br />
of Atreus.... truly awesome.... the air inside the<br />
Passageway is heavy and oppressive (as intended<br />
by the Ancients?).