It’s only a couple of hours drive from Athens to the Peloponnese—officially a vast peninsular but physically an island these days thanks to the Corinth Canal—through a few oil refineries, some nice roads hugging the coast, and we also drove through what seemed to be a town that had suffered some sort of wildfire, but only the trees were damaged and not the houses, luckily.
We stopped to admire the Corinth Canal and its an impressive sight, a straight 6.5km crossing, cut through sheer rock. It’s about 80m high and 20m wide.
Dreams of it being built—to save time, but also to avoid the bottom of the Peoloponnese, renowned as tough waters to navigate through—go back to classical times and various projects were started but never completed, instead the area was used as an overland portage road until the canal was finally completed in the late 1800s, it actually wasn’t used that much in the end and certainly the super tankers of these days are too wide to get in.
For our first night, we decided to stay at Acrocorinth, up on a steep hill overlooking Ancient Corinth and the Gulf below.
There isn’t much left of Ancient Corinth these days, just a few pillars and foundations but I felt we had to stop and see it anyway as in secondary school my form group was called Corinth—a place I had never heard of at the age of 11…
The views at Acrocorinth, an old fortress ruled over at various times by Frankish, Venetian, and Byzantine rulers is amazing, there isn’t much left of this old place, although the magnificent entrance suggests that more lies beyond. It’s a wonderful spot with not many tourists and free to visit which is always good.
We drove south from there and spent three nights at a campsite near Nafplio, the first capital of new Greece in the early 1800s for 13 years. The town itself is very Italianesque, the Venetian influence obvious. A real delight to walk around, with a relaxed port area to enjoy a drink and a meal. It had that rich yachty feel to it, with lots of boutiques selling well made handcrafted things for the most part and not the usual tourist tat. It also boasts, not one, not two but three fortresses.
Venturing inland for a couple of hours, we stopped at Sparti, a very new town, not really tourist worthy but it does have a fab statue of Leonidas and a few hundred metres from it is the remains of Ancient Sparta. Having seen the film 300 a couple of times, we did, well, I did more so…shout out “This is Sparta!” more than a few times as we drove in the Peloponnese—of course we had to watch the movie again that night as we wild camped in the mountains.
There isn’t much there that Leonidas would recognise from 480BC, in fact the remains are mostly from Roman times, but the Taÿgetos mountains that are visible from anywhere in the town, he certainly would have.
There are gruesome stories from ancient Sparta, one we read that stuck in the mind was that if you were born male and deemed too weak and feeble to make it to adulthood (ie: wouldn’t be a warrior), you would be left on the slopes of the Taÿgetos to die!
Anyway… The real reason to come to this area is to visit the Byzantine city of Mystras, which was lived in for 600 years or so, until Greece claimed Independence in the early 1800s. The captivating ruins (although restored) set on a spur of the Taÿgetos Mountains, of churches, libraries, strongholds and palaces in this fortress town are magical.
It’s one of those wonderful places to walk around.
We started early, just after 8.30am, and spent around three hours here before the masses of coaches arrived, we nearly had the place to ourselves for a while, so it was well worth getting up early.
Driving to the south-eastern coast after our visit, we stayed overnight on a beach near Monemvasia. although it was a bit busy as seven ‘Monster’homes turned up after us, so it wasn’t a very wild camping experience sadly, but it’s about the only place we could find to stay the night to visit the place. Campsites are in short supply here.
Another early start and we drove the short distance to Monemvasia, very picturesque, if geared up for chic tourists.
It’s a bit like the rock of Gibraltar, much smaller with a fortified medieval village built onto the south facing side, The island was part of the mainland until it was cut off by an earthquake in AD375, but now a causeway makes it nice and easy to access.
Like many places on the Peloponnese, it changed hands between the Franks, Venetians and Ottomans over a 600 year or so period. It was pretty much a ruin until it was revived in the 1970s as a luxury destination.
Many people come here, visit the lower town, look at the boutique shops and have lunch. Of course, we have to see it all so we walked up to the upper town which is ruins really but it’s awesome for taking in the surrounding views.
We decided to head west after this and stayed in a campsite near the pretty little town of Gythio in the Mani region, which is very popular with Germans and Austrians (like a lot of places in the Peloponnese this time of year it seems), it was a bit weird saying ‘Morgen’ instead of Kalimera!
One of the better campsites we have been to with a luxury pool and the sea to swim in, we decided to stay here for a few days and enjoy the last of the summer sun, the weather is set to cool down around 26th Sep so it’s time for us to move on from Greece.
We could have visited a few more archeological sites—there are plenty in the Peloponnese—such as Mycenae, Epidavros, Olympia, to name just a few, but Delphi, Athens, peering through the gate at Corinth and the ruins of Ancient Sparta was enough for us. Too much of a good thing and all that.
The plan is to now head to Montenegro, stopping a couple of nights more in Greece and a couple of nights in Albania on the way there.
We thought about seeing more of Albania but there isn’t that much that piqued our interest really, save the beaches and we’ve had our fill now!
Corinth Canal & Acient Corinth
Acrocorinth
Nafplio
Sparti
Mystras
Monemvasia
We stopped to admire the Corinth Canal and its an impressive sight, a straight 6.5km crossing, cut through sheer rock. It’s about 80m high and 20m wide.
Dreams of it being built—to save time, but also to avoid the bottom of the Peoloponnese, renowned as tough waters to navigate through—go back to classical times and various projects were started but never completed, instead the area was used as an overland portage road until the canal was finally completed in the late 1800s, it actually wasn’t used that much in the end and certainly the super tankers of these days are too wide to get in.
For our first night, we decided to stay at Acrocorinth, up on a steep hill overlooking Ancient Corinth and the Gulf below.
There isn’t much left of Ancient Corinth these days, just a few pillars and foundations but I felt we had to stop and see it anyway as in secondary school my form group was called Corinth—a place I had never heard of at the age of 11…
The views at Acrocorinth, an old fortress ruled over at various times by Frankish, Venetian, and Byzantine rulers is amazing, there isn’t much left of this old place, although the magnificent entrance suggests that more lies beyond. It’s a wonderful spot with not many tourists and free to visit which is always good.
We drove south from there and spent three nights at a campsite near Nafplio, the first capital of new Greece in the early 1800s for 13 years. The town itself is very Italianesque, the Venetian influence obvious. A real delight to walk around, with a relaxed port area to enjoy a drink and a meal. It had that rich yachty feel to it, with lots of boutiques selling well made handcrafted things for the most part and not the usual tourist tat. It also boasts, not one, not two but three fortresses.
Venturing inland for a couple of hours, we stopped at Sparti, a very new town, not really tourist worthy but it does have a fab statue of Leonidas and a few hundred metres from it is the remains of Ancient Sparta. Having seen the film 300 a couple of times, we did, well, I did more so…shout out “This is Sparta!” more than a few times as we drove in the Peloponnese—of course we had to watch the movie again that night as we wild camped in the mountains.
There isn’t much there that Leonidas would recognise from 480BC, in fact the remains are mostly from Roman times, but the Taÿgetos mountains that are visible from anywhere in the town, he certainly would have.
There are gruesome stories from ancient Sparta, one we read that stuck in the mind was that if you were born male and deemed too weak and feeble to make it to adulthood (ie: wouldn’t be a warrior), you would be left on the slopes of the Taÿgetos to die!
Anyway… The real reason to come to this area is to visit the Byzantine city of Mystras, which was lived in for 600 years or so, until Greece claimed Independence in the early 1800s. The captivating ruins (although restored) set on a spur of the Taÿgetos Mountains, of churches, libraries, strongholds and palaces in this fortress town are magical.
It’s one of those wonderful places to walk around.
We started early, just after 8.30am, and spent around three hours here before the masses of coaches arrived, we nearly had the place to ourselves for a while, so it was well worth getting up early.
Driving to the south-eastern coast after our visit, we stayed overnight on a beach near Monemvasia. although it was a bit busy as seven ‘Monster’homes turned up after us, so it wasn’t a very wild camping experience sadly, but it’s about the only place we could find to stay the night to visit the place. Campsites are in short supply here.
Another early start and we drove the short distance to Monemvasia, very picturesque, if geared up for chic tourists.
It’s a bit like the rock of Gibraltar, much smaller with a fortified medieval village built onto the south facing side, The island was part of the mainland until it was cut off by an earthquake in AD375, but now a causeway makes it nice and easy to access.
Like many places on the Peloponnese, it changed hands between the Franks, Venetians and Ottomans over a 600 year or so period. It was pretty much a ruin until it was revived in the 1970s as a luxury destination.
Many people come here, visit the lower town, look at the boutique shops and have lunch. Of course, we have to see it all so we walked up to the upper town which is ruins really but it’s awesome for taking in the surrounding views.
We decided to head west after this and stayed in a campsite near the pretty little town of Gythio in the Mani region, which is very popular with Germans and Austrians (like a lot of places in the Peloponnese this time of year it seems), it was a bit weird saying ‘Morgen’ instead of Kalimera!
One of the better campsites we have been to with a luxury pool and the sea to swim in, we decided to stay here for a few days and enjoy the last of the summer sun, the weather is set to cool down around 26th Sep so it’s time for us to move on from Greece.
We could have visited a few more archeological sites—there are plenty in the Peloponnese—such as Mycenae, Epidavros, Olympia, to name just a few, but Delphi, Athens, peering through the gate at Corinth and the ruins of Ancient Sparta was enough for us. Too much of a good thing and all that.
The plan is to now head to Montenegro, stopping a couple of nights more in Greece and a couple of nights in Albania on the way there.
We thought about seeing more of Albania but there isn’t that much that piqued our interest really, save the beaches and we’ve had our fill now!
Corinth Canal & Acient Corinth
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| Not much left these days |
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| Acrocorinth visble atop the hill |
Acrocorinth
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| The first of many feline encouters on the Peloponnese |
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| At the very top, the Gulf of Corinth to the left, the Saronic Gulf on the right |
Nafplio
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| Fort #1 at the top |
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| Fort #2, in the harbour |
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| Typical street |
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| At Fort#3 |
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| Prickely Pears, delicious but you need the right gloves to prise them open |
Sparti
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| This is Sparta! Actually it says Molon Labe which means, Come and Get Them! (the weapons that is, when asked to lay them down by the Persians) |
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| Scant remains of Acient Sparta |
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| Not a bad view from this wildcamp spot.. |
Mystras
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| There were a few churches, most had frescoes, this was one of the best preserved |
Monemvasia
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| The tranquiltity soon to be disrupted by 'Monster'homes. |
Gythio and Around
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| We thought about wild camping here, some 15 mins before Gythio, too many monsterhomes... |
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| The posh pool at the campsite, more like a resort hotel |
