Tour of Classical Greece

TOUR OF THE CLASSICAL GREECE

The Tour of the Classical Greece, which lasts four days, gives the opportunity to visit many places and archaeological sites.

The tour starts in Athens heading to the Peloponnese and the first stop is at the Corinth Canal; then, we visit the Epidaurus Theatre, we cross Nauplia, we visit the Museum and the Acropolis in Mycenae, with its famous Lion Gate, and finally, the Tomb of Agamemnon or Treasure of Atreus.

We continue crossing the centre of the Peloponnese, passing through Tripolis and Megalopolis, until we reach Olympia, where we visit the Stadium, the Temple of Zeus and the Archaeological Museum of Olympia. After, on the way to Delphoi, we visit Patras, we cross the biggest suspended bridge in Europe, between the Peloponnese and the Greek mainland. Then, we cross Lepanto and arrive to Delphoi, where we can visit the Museum with the famous statue of the Auriga, the oracular sanctuary of Apollo, the Castalian purification Spring and the tholos or circular structure found in the temple of Athena. Finally, we arrive to the city of Kalambaka, at the foot of Meteora, where we can visit two out of the six monasteries built on these impressive rocks.

1. THE CORINTH CANAL: The Corinth Canal connects the two seas in Greece, the Ionian Sea and the Aegean Sea, enabling sea transportation. The canal is 6,300 m long, stands at a height of 79 m, with a width of 25 m and a depth of 8 m.

 

2. EPIDAURUS: Epidaurus is famous for the Sanctuary of Asclepeios, the god of medicine, where 2,800 years ago complex surgical operations were performed.
		The snake, sacred animal of Asclepeios, was often represented coiled around the god’s walking stick, and is still the symbol of medicine today. The Theatre of Epidaurus: This wonderful classical theatre of the 4th century b.C. is built on the open air and has a capacity for 16,000 seats. Nowadays, during summer, it is used to perform tragedies and classical comedies.

 

3. MYCENAE: This is the legendary city founded by Perseus which gave its name to the whole Mycenaean civilization.
Its fame is linked to the Trojan War, which took place around 1200 BC. It is worth visiting the Mycenae Museum. In the acropolis of Mycenae, we can see the Lion Gate and the Royal Tombs, placed in circle, where five pure-gold masks were found, among which the famous Agamemnon Mask.

 

4. OLYMPIA: Olympia the Ancient site for the Olympic Games.
The temple of Zeus (5th century b.C.), a Doric sanctuary with similar dimensions to those of the Parthenon, was decorated with a gigantic gold and ivory statue of Zeus made by Phidias, which was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

 

5. DELPHI: the so called Omphalos or “navel” of the world, was the most important centre of pilgrimage in the ancient Greece.
		Here, a fortune-teller, who transmitted Apollo’s voice, used to sit on a three-legged stool while chewing laurel leaves and inhaling natural gases and pronounced the oracles. After, priests interpreted the message and conveyed it to the believers in the form of poetic hexameters. In the Museum of Delphoi, you can see two statues from the archaic period, the Kouros (young people) and the Sphinx.
Here, we can also see the remains of the Tholos, a circular structure from the temple of Athena and a replica of the Omphalos, which represented the centre of the world, and the impressive bronze statue of the Auriga from Delphoi (5th century b.C.).
		In the archaeological site, we will see the Sybil Rock (oracular women) and the polygonal wall that strengthens the temple of Apollo, with an impressive 12-meters-tall statue of the god inside.

 

6. THESSALY and METEORA: we finally arrive at Kalambaka, located at the foot of the big rocks of Meteora.
		Twenty-four monasteries were built but today only six are still active, from which four are for monks (St. Nicholas, Varlaam, Great Meteor, Holy Trinity) and two are for nuns (Rousanou and St. Stephen). The structure of the temples is always tri-partite, horizontally and vertically, as a symbol of the Holy Trinity.

 

Meteora Greece | Aerial Video on Vimeo.