7 Day Tour Of The Peloponnese, Delphi & Meteora

Overnight: Nafplio

An hour out of Athens, we stop at the Corinth Canal, the cut that separates mainland Greece from the Peloponnese. Ancient Corinth stood astride this isthmus, controlling both the land route between north and south and the sea routes linking the Aegean and Ionian seas.

We continue to Ancient Corinth, one of the wealthiest cities of the Greek and Roman world. In the Roman Forum, stand the temples, colonnades, fountains, and marble-paved streets — and the bema, the raised rostrum where Saint Paul was brought to trial before the proconsul Gallio, in the mid-1st century AD. Above it all rises the citadel of Acrocorinth.

For lunch, we propose an award-winning family producer of extra virgin olive oil, working with the local Manaki variety, with a farm-to-table tour and tasting.

The day ends in Nafplio, the first capital of independent Greece, from 1829 to 1834. The evening is yours.

UNESCO site: Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus (1988) · Overnight: Nafplio

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

We then head to the Argolid’s Saronic coast for a seaside lunch before visiting Epidaurus. The sanctuary of Asklepios was one of the most important healing centres of antiquity. It includes the abaton, where pilgrims slept in the hope of receiving a healing dream, and the theatre, built in the 4th century BC and still in use today. Its acoustics carry an ordinary speaking voice from the orchestra to all 14,000 seats. UNESCO inscribed the sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus on the World Heritage List in 1988.

A second night in Nafplio — well earned in a town this good.

UNESCO site: Archaeological Site of Mycenae (1999) · Overnight: Dimitsana

The morning is devoted to Mycenae, the citadel of Agamemnon. We walk through the Lion Gate, the Grave Circles where Schliemann found his gold, the palace, and the Cyclopean walls — stone blocks so large that later Greeks assumed the Cyclopes had raised them. Nearby stands the Treasury of Atreus, the finest of the beehive tombs. The visit concludes with a stop at the archaeological museum. UNESCO inscribed Mycenae in 1999.

Then we head into the Arcadian mountains to Dimitsana, a stone village perched on a ridge overlooking the Lousios Gorge. Here you can visit the Open-Air Water Power Museum — featuring traditional watermills and gunpowder mills that supplied the fighters of the Greek War of Independence in 1821 — or the cliffside Prodromou Monastery, built directly into the rock face overlooking the gorge. Alternatively, enjoy an idyllic walk along the river. Overnight in the area.

UNESCO sites: Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae (1986) · Archaeological Site of Olympia (1989) · Overnight: Ancient Olympia

We drive up to Bassae, at an altitude of 1,130 metres. The Temple of Apollo Epicurius was built here in the late 5th century BC by Iktinos, the architect of the Parthenon, and in 1986 it became the first Greek monument to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. (It stands under a protective tent during conservation works — the temple is fully visible from inside the tent, although the setting differs from what the photographs suggest.)

Then we descend to Ancient Olympia, where the Alpheios and Kladeos rivers meet. Here lies 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 begin our visit today — with the Temple of Zeus, the workshop of Pheidias, the Temple of Hera, and the stadium — and finish it in the morning. Overnight in the area.

Overnight: Delphi

An early start allows us to complete our visit to Ancient Olympia, including the site museum, which houses the Hermes of Praxiteles and the pediments of the Temple of Zeus.

On the way north we stop at Chlemoutsi, perched on a hilltop above the Ionian coast. It is one of the best-preserved Frankish castles in Greece, built between 1220 and 1223 by Geoffrey I of Villehardouin. Its hexagonal keep, vaulted halls and sweeping sea views make it one of the finest Crusader fortresses in the country.

We cross the Gulf of Corinth on the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge and stop at Nafpaktos, where the circular harbour remains enclosed by the walls the Venetians built in the 15th century. They called the town Lepanto: in October 1571, the Ottoman fleet sailed into the Gulf of Patras to face the Holy League in the Battle of Lepanto, where it suffered a decisive defeat. From the coast, the road climbs Mount Parnassos towards Delphi.

UNESCO site: Archaeological Site of Delphi (1987) · Overnight: Kalambaka

Delphi was believed to be the navel of the world, where two eagles released by Zeus from opposite ends of the earth were said to have met. For a thousand years, no Greek city made a serious decision without consulting the Oracle. We walk along the Sacred Way past the treasuries to the Temple of Apollo and continue to the Tholos, before visiting the museum, which holds the Charioteer — a bronze statue cast in 470 BC and recovered intact, with its enamel eyes still in place.

In the afternoon, the route turns north across Thessaly to Kalambaka, at the foot of Meteora.

UNESCO site: Meteora (1988) · Ends: Athens

Above Kalambaka rise the pillars of Meteora — the name means suspended in the air — a field of sandstone towers rising straight from the Thessalian plain. From Byzantine times, monks climbed them precisely because of their inaccessibility, and built monasteries on the summits; of the original twenty-four monasteries, six remain in operation today. It is the second-largest monastic centre of Greece after Mount Athos, and UNESCO inscribed it on the World Heritage List in 1988 as one of only two mixed cultural-and-natural sites in the country.

On the way back to Athens, we stop at Thermopylae, where the monument to Leonidas stands. Here, in 480 BC, the Spartan king and a small force of Greeks held the narrow pass against the vast Persian army of Xerxes for three days before they were overwhelmed — a defeat that has symbolised courage against impossible odds ever since.

Then we continue the final stretch back to Athens.