6 Best Sights in The Peloponnese, Greece

Just a short drive north of Pylos, you will find the site of an ancient Mycenaean settlement centered on the immaculately preserved palace of King Nestor. It’s the finest of all the surviving palaces of this era, and a few years ago a huge structure was created to protect what survives of the court of one of the most famous heroes of the Trojan war. It was not a fortified palace, such was the king's reputation for peace, and it was mysteriously destroyed by fire in 1200 BC. Ironically, this is what has helped to preserve so many of its treasures. The fire baked the clay tablets in the palace’s archives hard, ensuring their survival along with a wealth of information about language, religion, and life in the court of Nestor. It was a two-story building, and its ground floor once accounted for more than 100 rooms; today its walls stand up to a meter high and are surrounded by walkways. The largest room is, naturally, the throne room, but some exquisite details can be seen in some of the lesser vestibules—for example, in one of the bathrooms you can still see an original terra-cotta tub that stands in place. Many of the finds that survived the fire are housed in the Archaeological Museum in the nearby village of Chora, which is worth a visit along the way.

Looming some 1,772 feet above Ancient Corinth, the Acrocorinth is one of the best naturally fortified citadels in Europe. Citizens retreated in times of invasions and earthquakes, and armies could keep an eye out for approaches by land over the isthmus and by sea from the Saronic Gulf and the Gulf of Corinth. The moat and three rings of wall are largely Byzantine, Frankish, Venetian, and Turkish—but the right-hand tower of the innermost of the three gates is apparently a 4th-century BC original. Corinth's famous Temple of Aphrodite, which had 1,000 sacred prostitutes in attendance, stood here at the summit, too. On the slope of the mountain is the Sanctuary of Demeter, which you can view but not enter. Take the road next to the ticket office in Ancient Corinth; if you don't have your own car, you can hire one of the taxis that often wait for visitors for the trip up to the tourist pavilion and café (about €10 round-trip), from which it's a 10-minute walk to Acrocorinth gate.

On the main square stands the town's 13th-century Church of Elkomenos Christos, reputedly the largest medieval church in southern Greece. Carved peacocks on its portal are symbolic of the Byzantine era; the detached bell tower—like those of Italian cathedrals—is a sign of Venetian rebuilding in the 17th century. Sculptures from the church, together with other interesting finds from excavations around the island, are held across the square in the town's Archaeological Collection (€3; closed Tuesday), a small, interesting museum housed within an 16th-century former mosque. Outside, a cannon dominates the square, typically forming a backdrop to the many selfie-taking couples.

This venerable mosque near the southeast corner of Syntagma Square has been put to various purposes since Nafplion was liberated from the Turks: as a school, a courthouse, municipal offices, and a movie theater, during the latter era of which it acquired the name most still know it by: Trianon. (The writer Henry Miller, who did not care for Nafplion, felt that the use of the building as a movie theater was an example of the city's crassness.) The landmark occasionally hosts temporary exhibits and performances; it also remains one of the oldest surviving examples of Ottoman architecture in Nafplion.

According to the Greek traveler and geographer Pausanias, the most ravishing odeon in Greece, second only to the Herodeion of Athens, is that of Patras. Having been rediscovered in the late-19th century, it was restored in the 1960s and, until recently, remained in use as a venue for productions of the Summer Arts Festival (mid-June–mid-September), which were still staged in its well-preserved theater until recently. You can still admire this building from the street, but ongoing renovations mean it was closed at the time of writing and will be for the foreseeable future.

For solitude and a dizzying view, pass through the upper town's wooden entrance gates, complete with the original iron reinforcement. Up the hill is a rare example of a domed octagonal church, Agia Sofia, founded in the 13th century by Emperor Andronicus II and patterned after Dafni Monastery in Athens. Under Venetian rule the Byzantine complex served as a convent. Follow the path to the highest point on the rock for a breathtaking view of the coast.