The Peloponnese
Almost an island, and the best argument in Greece for a car and a week. Bronze Age citadels, Byzantine ghost cities, Venetian ports and a stone-tower peninsula where the roads run out.
The character of the place
Four UNESCO sites sit within two hours of each other: Mycenae, Epidaurus, Olympia and Mystras. Nafplio, the first capital of modern Greece, is a Venetian port town with two fortresses and the best evening square in the country.
The south is wilder. The Mani is a rocky peninsula of fortified tower houses built by feuding clans, running down to Cape Tainaron — mythologically an entrance to the underworld, practically the southernmost point of mainland Europe after Tarifa. Monemvasia is a Byzantine town hidden on the seaward face of a rock, invisible from land.
It is also seriously good farming country: Kalamata olives, Nemea reds, citrus in Laconia, and a food culture that is not performing for anybody.
Worth the day
Epidaurus
Stand at the centre of the theatre, speak normally, and listen. Summer festival performances still fill it.
Mystras
An abandoned Byzantine city on a hillside above Sparta — frescoed churches, a palace, and almost nobody.
The Vyros gorge, Mani
Old kalderimia from Kardamyli up into the Taygetos, walkable in half a day.
Nemea in September
Agiorgitiko at harvest, tasted with the winemaker in the cellar.
Where to base yourself
Nafplio
Venetian old town, two fortresses, and Mycenae and Epidaurus both within forty minutes.
The Mani — Kardamyli or Areopoli
Restored tower houses, the Taygetos behind, and the sea below.
Monemvasia
Sleep inside the walls of the lower town; the gate closes and it becomes yours.
What to skip
Sparta itself — the modern town has almost nothing of the ancient one. Go to Mystras instead.
Pairs well with
- Athens & Argo-Saronic
The natural pairing: Athens, then over the canal.
- Ionian (Eptanese)
Patras links the two — mainland history, then the green islands.