You could easily spend your entire vacation in beautiful Laconia, in the Peloponnese

When people think of the Peloponessos the name of Sparta comes to mind and of course the valiant Lacedemonians and their leader Leonidas who held the Persian army at Thermopylae. Now it is a largely agricultural area with high mountains, beautiful beaches and small towns and villages all with their own charm. You could easily spend your entire vacation here, swimming in some of the cleanest seas in all of Greece. Here are some of the highlights of the region....

Sparta

Formerly Athens' greatest foe and competitor, Sparta is now an agricultural city on a flat plain where the Evrotas River flows through. Unlike the Athenians who built temples and massive walls, the men of Sparta were considered the walls and there are few ruins from classical times, but they include the remains of the ancient acropolis, the sanctuary of Artemis and the tomb of Leonidas, whose small band of Spartan warriors held the Persians at Thermopaleae. On nearby Mount Tagetos there are numerous traditional villages, well worth a visit. Click here for HOTELS IN SPARTA

Mystras

The nearby ruins of Mystras, which are being gradually restored, are worth the trip. Mystras was the central town of the Morea (Peloponessos) until the Turkish occupation in the fifteenth century. It was inhabited until it was abandoned in the 1820’s when the Turks re-took much of the Peloponessos after Ibriham Pasha’s invasion from Egypt. The old city is rich in churches and is topped by a Frankish castle. There are houses and mansions and many of the churches have impressive frescos. The Pantanassa is a convent inhabited by nuns, the only people living in the city of Mistras today. The Perivlepto is a monastery built under a rock and contains impressive frescos. If you keep climbing through the ruins of the old city you will find yourself in the castle with a view of the valley below.

Monemvasia

The citadel town of Monemvasia on the Eastern Peninsula of the Peloponessos is Greece’s answer to the Rock of Gibraltar. It’s a walled city on the site of a giant stone mountain which rises from the sea, connected by a narrow isthmus. The village that is contained within these walls was in ruins 20 years ago but has now been restored by the Germans who bought it one house at a time. The modern town of Nea Monemvasia is full of tourists in the summer. The nearby island of Elafonisos can be expensive since it caters to wealthy Athenians but the beaches are great, as is the seafood. North of Monemvasia is the town of Gerakas, which is approached by Flying Dolphin through a long channel that seems more like a river. It was the primary source of the gray mullet eggs used at one time for tarama but which is now made from carp. It is also the ancestral town of none other then Telly Savalas. Because of its connection to Pireaus and the Saronic Gulf islands by Flying Dolphin, Monemvasia is as good as any place to begin a trip through the Peleponisos

The Mani

The inhabitants of the Mani peninsula are so tough, the land so inhospitable, that it has never been conquered. Even the Germans left them alone when they occupied the country in World War two. All the more reason to go there for as frightening as they were to the Turks and the Germans, the Maniotis are among the most hospitable of the Greeks and their houses, like fortified towers, make up for the lack of major archeological sites. They claim proudly to be the direct descendants of the Spartans and are known for their independence and the fact they are impossible to govern. These are certainly my kind of people. Click here for HOTELS IN THE MANI

Githion

The port of Githion is rich in fish taverns, beautiful old Turkish style houses and a bustling waterfront, which is the town’s center of gravity. There are long sandy beaches nearby. Marathonisi, which used to be an island but is now connected, is supposedly where Paris spent the night with Helen when he first abducted her from King Menelaous of Sparta. There is an ancient acropolis and a small museum in the town hall. My brother uses Githion as his base when he travels around the Peloponessos.

The Diros Caves

The Diros Caves are famous for their stalactites and stalagmites, and are said to extend as far north as Sparta. They were inhabited in Neolithic times and then abandoned after an earthquake. Rediscovered in 1895, exploration began in 1949. The caves contain an underground lake. The criticism is that for all the miles and miles of caverns and passageways only a small portion is open to the public. Still if you are nearby how can you pass it up, even with an admission price of 3500 drachma for a half-hour tour? The whole area known as Pyrgos Dirou is famous for its towers, some of which are hotels.

Used with permission from Matt Barrett's Greece Travel Guide