ONE DAY PELOPONNESE

This tour will take us to the major sites of the Peloponnese, both ancient and modern, from the Homeric city of Mycenae to the Corinth Canal. The kingdom of Mycenae was one of the first great centres of the Greek culture and settlement on this site dates back to the second millennium BC. According to Homer, Mycenae was the seat of Agamemnon, who led the Greeks against the Trojans to take back Helen, the wife of his brother Menelaus. The ruins of the ancient city are famous for the amazing “Cyclopean walls” - so named because the later Greeks thought that only a Cyclops could move such huge rocks into place. You will see the Lion Gate, which formed the entrance to the royal court and palace. Nearby there are the tombs of legendary figures such as Aegisthus and Clytemnestra.

We will also travel to Epidaurus in order to see the famous theatre there. Built in the 4th century BC, it is famous for its acoustics - they are so perfect that words spoken on stage can be heard perfectly wherever you are in the audience.

Stepping forward in history, we will see the Palamidi Castle in Nafplio, built by the Venetians and famous for supposedly having 999 steps. According to legend, there were once 1000 steps leading to the castle, but one of them was crushed by Theodoros Kolokotronis, a leader of the Greek war of independence, when celebrating a victory against the Ottomans.

Finally, our journey to the Peloponnese will take us across the Corinth Canal. Completed in 1893, a huge feat of technology at the time, it finally opened up the shipping route between the Saronic Gulf and the Gulf of Corinth and separated the Peloponnese from the mainland, effectively turning it into an island.