October 27, 2017:

The sites have been professionalized.

Entry fees, guards, museums, in some cases such as Pylos protection from the elements. The government strategically promotes and preserves archaeological treasures belonging to all of us, stewarded by their impoverished little nation. Good on 'em.

I toured Nestor's Palace once before, on Friday December 21, 1979, with my two school friends. Then we were free to interact with the site in any way we chose. There were no barriers, we walked right up to the hearthstone or the queen's bathtub. If we'd wanted we could have sat on walls or walked away with the masonry. We were alone there, and while we were of course scrupulously respectful, we were nonprofessionals, where realistically we couldn't know for certain what actions might be inadvertently harmful. Now they keep tourists at discreet distances from things we might break, and this is better.

At Pylos we share a catwalk with a tourful of French vacationers receiving a very detailed lecture from a docent who knows his stuff. And we immediately put as much distance as we can between them and us, 'cos ornery, and individualistic, and rebellious