Mycenae is supreme. First I stand before the lion gate, an image I've known by heart since I was a child. The romance of Schliemann's ' discovery' of the realities of Agamemnon, Clytaemnestra and other heroes, epic and tragic, was a magical inspiration to generations.

Ok, it seems Schliemann hammed it up a bit. When he wrote 'I have gazed on the face of Agamemnon' the wondrous gold death mask was in fact of a man born 300 years before Agamemnon. Which, to me, is yet more amazing. So long ago, so beautiful. A replica of that gold mask is in the museum here, iconic.

Stepping through the lion gate, on the right is a 'grave circle' built around 1650 BCE. It is so human, so fashioned, so intended: and built by people unimaginably remote from us. For some reason the perfection of this monument bring me to tears. This makes it so clear how much humans share, across millennia. And the world focuses so on difference.

Climbing on towards the palace on the top of the hill, it's a surprise how small the building was. It makes Sophocles' Electra much more believable, somehow. Reading of the murder of Agamemnon in his bath, in this palace, it was hard for me to make sense of the logistics... I imagined him surrounded by attendants, in a bath a long way from the throne room and his murderous wife, But the palace is essentially a large throne room with a hall and two adjacent rooms - so this is just a domestic murder in a small house. Much more believable. I feel delighted with this clarification.

The unexpected treat is the cistern. Around 1250 BCE the Mycenaeans dug under their walls, three fights of steps down into stone, and built a cistern to receive water brought from a nearby spring. I never knew they built such things in the bronze age: it is a privilege to walk to the bottom of the high, arched passageway (lit by my front bike light!) and wonder at their ingenuity and skill. This cistern of course gave the citadel water in a siege.

I spent over three hours on the citadel before heading for the great museum. A lot to see and to breathe in. In this time a Japanese tour party comes and goes. Although their guide is disruptively loud, it is easy to be patient as they soon wend their way and leave the world to silence and to me.

The museum is fantastic... Schliemann's finds from "Agamemnon's" tomb in grave circle A, golden treasure. Linear B tablets (wow, wow, wow, another childhood inspiration, as amazing as the Rosetta stone). Clay pots that would be beautiful to use at home. Figurines, frescoes, glass (when was that invented?? I've no idea). Brilliant.

After the museum I visit more tholos tombs and grave circle B. The museum has shown me that dozens, if not hundreds of graves have been found in the neighbourhood, many unlooted. It seems amazing, perhaps it is just a natural result of a small place being lived in for so long.

I walk back up to enjoy the lion gate once more, before the site closes. The whole experience has been staggering.

I switched hotels to stay at La Belle Helene, where Schliemann stayed, also Alan Wace who excavated Mycenae for years, and many others. It is a little basic... No en suite or wifi, but made up for by the photos and articles going back to the 1870s. The owner's great grandmother owned the inn then, and married one of the locals who helped with the early digs. The family were involved with the excavations for generations. I stay in Agatha Christie's room... other renowned visitors include Karl Jung, JP Sartre and many others. A slice of history.

What a day. Dreams come true.