The soul of Greece, and in some ways, one of the least well understood regions, is the easy-to-reach, yet somehow easy-to-overlook Peloponnese. Not far from Athens, reachable by car, bus, train, airplane, or ferry, the Peloponnese is home to one of the most varied and remarkably ancient landscapes in Greece. Originally covered by the sea, with the exception of a few mountain peaks – and during the last Ice Age connected by land to Kythira, an island to the south, and even to Crete – the Peloponnese is now a collection of mountains and small fertile interior plains. The very nature of the geography has contributed to a sense of isolation between the mountains, and in fact parts of the Peloponnese remain, even today, more or less cut off from the rest of the world. Roads have been cut with enormous toil through the mountains, but in some parts of the Peloponnese, the roads are so winding, and so precipitous, and so overwhelmingly beautiful, that it can easily take several hours to drive thirty kilometers.
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But what hours those are! Full of surprises: monasteries carved under rock overhangs, a lake set inside a lush poppy-filled meadow completely circled by mountains, dense fir forests haunted by wildlife, citrus and currant fields, a stone threshing floor seemingly in the middle of nowhere, a few dozen boxes of bees, a still unexcavated ancient theater – all of these and many more are to be expected on a drive through the Peloponnese. For many Greeks, the Peloponnese is the heart and soul of the country: its heroic past (Herakles was from here, as were Agamemnon and Menelaos of Trojan War fame, as well as many of the heroes of the Greek War of Independence (1821-1827, 1829)) coupled with a strong traditional way of life will affect even the most jaded visitor.
Although the vast majority of the Peloponnese remains unexplored by most visitors, those who venture off the beaten path are rewarded with unique sights, tastes, and sounds. We will consider each of the prefectures of the Peloponnese in turn, but bear in mind that it would be quite unlikely to visit only one of them. Most visitors will come to at least two or three prefectures. A typical visit to the Peloponnese to see the main sites would last about nine to twelve days, although it is quite common to come for only two to four days to see the popular prefecture of Argolida. The more time you can spare, the more you will be rewarded!
The Peloponnese is divided into seven prefectures: clockwise from the closest to Athens, they are Korinthia, Argolida, Arkadia, Lakonia, Messenia, Ileia, and Achaia.
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