I had planned to visit monasteries, museums and archaeological sites at Peleponnes
Let's start with the simplest, the archaeological sites
(A) They are a dime a dozen, (B) they are well signposted (C) entry costs no more than €6 or are free.
But what are Archaeological Sites? A random collection of stones, that's where it starts. If you are ucky you'll find a few terraces, foundations of houses and sometimes pillars <Temple of Apollo>... All in all archaeological sites are around 2000 years old
Ancient Olympia is such an example of a cluster of stones and a few pillars. The whole thing is supplemented by a green meadow and a museum in which more stones can be seen in pictures and an outline of the history or how the stones were discovered and cared for.
The Temple of Apollo <Archaeological Site at Bassae of Phigaleia>, south of Skliros, offers more.
Below the tent are the pillars held up by a metal framework. And as usual there are stones around.
Nestor's palace was sobering for me. See image. 6 € entrance is borderline
Without the information boards, that's shockingly little.
At the other end of the scale is Delphi, known for the Oracle. Similarly old, apparently flattened once and yet there is more to see here for €12 including the museum.
Delphi was on my way to Meteora in Central Greece. It lies about 700 m and is in between a skiing area <Mt Paranassus> and the sea
The Mornos Canal was the main source of water for Athens and can be seen when you follow the 48 to Itea
Monasteries
Many monasteries are very small, in need of renovation, or are empty. On Lefkada there were 3 nuns (84, 76, 64. If I remember correctly) who really havw a problem with keeping the monastery from collapsing.
A feast for the eyes for a monastery is Andromonástēro in the hills of Ancient Messini. Although no monks live there anymore, it was pretty much in ruins until Greece and the EU renovated it. And it's really beautiful there and a place of calm and energy
Another example is the Sepetou Monastery at Alifeira. Still inhabited, but it wasn't accessible when I drove by.
One of those monasteries that makes you wonder how on earth they managed to build it near Leonidio. Built around 1300 AC, it is not large but impressive. What I found strange was that Wikipedia writes that it was a monk monastery until 1971 and was converted into a nun monastery in 1972. I saw only one monk there.
Fortresses
There are fortresses along the west coast by the sea or in the hills. I was pleasantly surprised by the Arcadian Gate, between Ancient Messina and Andromonástēro.
Almost never mentioned anywhere, but compared to various stone clusters, it definitely offers more... like Nestor's Palace for example.
Without the information boards, that's shockingly little.
The Pylos Fortress (16th century; above) and Methoni Fortress (13th century, below ), south of Voidokilia, are also worth a visit. Both were built much later and therefore there is something to see and admire. There aren't that many visitors hanging around in the morning either.
I really enjoyed the Geraki Castle near Geronthres. I was the only one visiting it and it offers not only the castle also a ancient village and several churches
The fortress of Palamidi at Nafplion was my 2nd last visit on Peloponnese. It's close to Athens that's why so many people are going to see the fortress. The fortress itself is not impressive, however the few is great.
It looked like that the day was the day when all school classes are visiting something. It started with 2 buses around 11:00 and when I moved on to the Archaeological site of Mycenae I had already counted approx 30 buses
I watched Mycenae from the fence outside because I was not willing to pay 12 € and queue with hundreds of pupils. If you zoom the photo than you can see them
Cities
Then of course there are the cities of the past, Sparta, Athens, Messina, Ithaca or Marathon. My trip to Sparti <Sparta> was sobering. I skipped Athens and Marathon.
In more recent history, the Corinth Canal was on the agenda. What a mistake.
