Full Day Private Tour to Monemvasia Medieval Fortress Town and Sparta

We will pick you up from your accommodation on your private car or van

After leaving Athens, in about 1 hour drive, our first stop will be the Corinth Canal where you can gaze the breathtaking view from the bridge and take great photos. The Corinth Canal connects the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland, arguably making the peninsula an island. The canal was dug through the isthmus at sea level and has no locks.

After about 2 and a half hour drive we will reach Sparta which is known as the eternal rival city of the Athenian Democracy. Sparta revolved around a different Cosmo theory for the ancient Greek standards. Initially known as the birth place of Helen of Troy and the Kingdom of Menelaus (in Mycenaean period), Sparta was organized as a purely military society in the ancient Greek period. It was the city of the two Kings were a few aristocrats ruled and of course the city where Leonidas and his 300 Spartans marched from to face the Persian army Thermopylae in 480 BCE.

Continuing we will pass in front of the stadium where the statue of King Leonidas stands marking the ending point of Spartathlon race (Athens – Sparta 245,3 km).

The Museum of Olive and Greek Olive Oil, in Sparta, transports you to the culture, history and technology of the olive and olive oil production in the Greek realm, from prehistoric times to the early 20th century. The Museum's objective is to highlight the ineffable relation of the olive with the identity of our country and, more generally, the Mediterranean basin. The olive and olive oil are presented here from different optical angles: the economy, nutrition and the olive's uses, religious worship, art and technology. The Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil offers you the opportunity to see the very first testimonies about the presence of the olive tree and the production of olive oil in Greece: Rare fossilized olive leaves, 50,000-60,000 years old, from the island of Santorini, the oldest findings offering proof of the presence of the olive tree en Greece Linear B Tablets of the 14th century BC (exact replicas), with the first written testimonies about the olive and olive oil.

After about 1 hour and 30 minutes, we will reach mythical Monemvasia. This is a living medieval city, developed on an island that is connected to the Greek mainland. A fortress and a prosperous city of the Byzantine empire Monemvasia (literally means one entrance) still survives, the narrow streets, the mansions, the small houses, the churches , the wall, the gate and the citadel, the city is still inhabited. Here history comes truly alive, you can have lunch by the sea upon the old wall and walk in the city continually discovering new points of interest.

We will return to Athens and drop you off at your accommodation.