Easter in Peloponnese, Greece

Guest post by ndalecs

Map tips: each color represents a different day. Click a marker to learn more about the spot, and click the star in the map header to save the entire map under Your Places in Google Maps.

Day 1: Nei Pori

This was actually a road trip, starting early in the morning in hometown Bucharest and riding through the day all the way to Thessaloniki and then south to the beautiful seaside village of Nei Pori, our first stop of the trip. In the evening we enjoyed dinner with a view in the spectacular village of Panteleimonas, 485m above the sea level.

Day 2

• Domokos
• Thermopylae

Day two started early as we had a lot of miles to cover. We followed the straight route to Larissa and then took the B roads to Lamia rather than the motorway which is longer and far less exciting. There are some beautiful villages on the route, Domokos being one of them.

Once you’re in Lamia there are only a few miles to Thermophiles, the site of the famous battle of King Leonidas of Sparta took place.

Day 3

• Metaxourgio
• Temple of Olympian Zeus
• Acropolis of Athens

The next two days we’ve spent in beautiful Athens, in the Metaxourgio neighborhood which is really close to the city center. We left the car in the hotel’s parking lot and used the metro for traveling around which was a very good idea.

The places we loved the most were: The temple of Olympian Zeus, Acropolis and the surrounding park, Herodou Attikou Street, Mt Lycabettus and the small streets around it, Bay of Zea, Plaka.

Day 4

• Irodou Attikou
• Mount Lycabettus

More Athens sightseeing

Day 5

• Corinth Canal
• Archaeological Site of Mycenae

The following day we crossed the Corinth Canal to Peloponnese, which is a wonderful place to stop and take some pictures. Right before the bridge there is a parking lot where you can leave your car and take it on foot (not for the faint hearted though ???? )

Next stop was the site of Mycenae which was the center of the Mycenaean civilization about 3500 years ago. Dont miss The Tomb of Aegisthus which is very close to the citadel. And also try to eat before getting there as the restaurants in the area are either closed, or serving some strange food ????

Day 6

• Sparti
• Mystras
• Kalamata
• Mavrommati
• Methoni

Next stop was Sparta, which isn’t that impressive, the neighboring citadel of Mystras being a better option to visit and maybe spend the night (like we did).

The road from Sparta to Kalamata was really spectacular, going through the mountains with some tunnels that look manually carved in the rock. There are a lot of caves nearby which can be easily accessed from the road.

After visiting Kalamata, we made a little detour to the north to the ancient city of Messene (actual city on the map is Mavrommati). The weather was quite bad, with lots of rain but the visit was really worthy. The roads to Messene was through the olive tree plantations which are very narrow and so beautiful.

Day 7

• Pilos
• Elea
• Neda Waterfalls
• Temple of Apollo Epicurius
• Andritsaina

We have spent the night in Methoni, which is a beautiful seaside village with a Castle by the sea and great restaurants near its entrance.

The next day we took the road north through Pilos (which is worth a visit) and up to the village of Elea where we took the mountain roads towards Andritsaina. Elea and the surrounding area is packed with family businesses of olive oil production where you can get some good prices on oil or other products related to olives ????

On the road to Andritsaina you can have a stop in Figaleia for the Neda river and falls which are quite spectacular and also Temple of Apollo Epicurius which is beautifully preserved.

The town of Andritsaina was the most spectacular place of our journey, with beautiful stone built B&B’s and the best food we had in Greece so far Location: the restaurant closest to the town church (it didnt had any name, and can’t find it on map).

Day 8

• Archaeological Museum of Olympia
• Patras
• Rio-Antirio Bridge

Took the road straight to Olympia (through Kallithea) where we’ve spent half a day visiting the site and the wonderful museum.

Next stop was Patras where we had a late lunch near the coast, then took the coast road to the amazing Rio-Antirrio bridge which spans over the gulf of Corinth. There are stops on both ends of the bridge to take your pictures, especially on the north side (inside the ferry station).

Day 9

• Delphi
• Arachova
• Mount Parnassus

Delphi is a small mountain village, very crowded (tough time with parking) and with the most spectacular archaeological site and museum. For the lunch I recommend heading to nearby Arachova which has a greater variety of restaurants and better looking altogether.

Just a few kilometers further, you can find the Corycian cave which has a beautiful history. This can be reached from Delphi as well, after a 3 hours hike.

Our last stop in the area was Mt Parnassus, which should be an easy hike from the bottom of the ski slopes. Unfortunately the weather can change very quickly and we had to skip the hike.

Day 10

• Aristotelous Square
• Roman Forum
• Church of St. Demetrios
• Rotunda

After the long journey from Delphi, we had a quiet day wandering around Thessaloniki with some important stops: Aristotelous Square, The Roman Forum, Church of Saint Demetrius, Rotonda and the beautiful Tower of Thessaloniki and the nearby pier street.

Traveled in April 2015