6 Day Peloponnese: Mystras, Olympia & Bassae

UNESCO site: Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns (1999) · Overnight: Nafplio

An hour out of Athens we stop at the Corinth Canal, the cut that separates mainland Greece from the Peloponnese — 79 metres deep through solid limestone, one of the most striking pieces of 19th-century engineering in Greece.

Then Mycenae, the citadel of Agamemnon and the best-preserved stronghold of the Mycenaean civilisation — the culture Homer wrote about seven centuries later. We walk the Lion Gate, the Grave Circles, the palace, and the cyclopean walls, and the vaulted tholos tombs nearby. UNESCO inscribed Mycenae in 1999, together with Tiryns.

A tasting follows at one of the Nemea wineries: Agiorgitiko, a red variety with Protected Designation of Origin, grown in this valley since antiquity.

The day ends in Nafplio, the first capital of liberated Greece in 1829. The evening is yours.

UNESCO site: Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus (1988) · Overnight: Mystras (new village)

The morning starts with the Archaeological Museum of Nafplio, its highlight the Dendra Panoply, one of the oldest surviving suits of full body armour in the world. Then Palamidi, the Venetian fortress on the 216-metre hill above the town: eight bastions, built between 1711 and 1714 in three years, and lost to the Ottomans in 1715.

We cross to the Argolid’s Saronic coast for a seaside lunch, before Epidaurus — antiquity’s foremost healing sanctuary, with the abaton, where pilgrims slept in the hope of a healing dream, and the theatre: 4th century BC, and with acoustics that carry an ordinary speaking voice to all 14,000 seats. UNESCO inscribed it in 1988.

In the early afternoon we drive west, over the mountains, to Mystras, overnighting in the modern village below the Byzantine site.

UNESCO site: Archaeological Site of Mystras (1989) · Overnight: Kalamata

Mystras is the quiet highlight of the whole Peloponnese — a fortified Byzantine city spilling down the slope of Taygetos above Sparta. It was founded in 1249 by the Frankish prince William II of Villehardouin, ceded to the Byzantines in 1262, and grew into the capital of the Despotate of the Morea, a semi-autonomous province that lasted until the Ottoman conquest of 1460. In its last century it was a thriving centre of art and learning with direct ties to Constantinople. The churches, palaces and frescoed chapels stand along cobbled lanes, largely as they were left. UNESCO inscribed Mystras in 1989.

After lunch, a visit to the Museum of the Olive on the way, before driving on to the coastal town of Kalamata for the night.

Overnight: Ancient Olympia

The morning is given to Ancient Messene — not yet a World Heritage Site, but on the shortlist, and one of the most impressive and best-preserved archaeological sites in Greece, still being excavated by the Archaeological Society of Athens. Unlike most Greek cities, Messene was founded in a single act: after the Theban general Epaminondas broke Sparta at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, ending centuries of Spartan rule, the Messenians built a new capital — walls, temples, theatres, a stadium — much of it remarkably intact today.

In the afternoon we head north to Ancient Olympia for the night.

UNESCO site: Archaeological Site of Olympia (1989) · Overnight: Ancient Olympia

The day is given to Ancient Olympia, at the meeting of the Alpheios and Kladeos rivers: the sanctuary of Zeus and the birthplace of the Olympic Games, held every four years from 776 BC until the late 4th century AD. We walk the Temple of Zeus — once home to the gold-and-ivory statue that was one of the Seven Wonders — the workshop of Pheidias, the Temple of Hera, and the stadium. The site museum holds the Hermes of Praxiteles and the pediments of the Temple of Zeus.

Two further museums — the Museum of the History of the Ancient Olympic Games and the Museum of the Modern Olympic Games — are close by and easy to visit on your own in the afternoon.

UNESCO site: Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae (1986) · Ends: Athens

At 1,130 metres in the Arcadian mountains stands the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae, built in the late 5th century BC by Iktinos, the architect of the Parthenon, and one of the best-preserved temples in the country. In 1986 it became the first Greek monument ever inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List — before the Acropolis. (It stands under a protective tent during conservation works — fully visible from inside, but not the setting the photographs show.)

After lunch in one of Arcadia’s hidden corners, we make our way back to Athens.