Former Byzantine capital and fortified city Mystras is spread over a steep mountainside of Mt. Taygetos and surrounded by verdant olive and orange trees. It is the single most compelling set of medieval ruins in Greece (entrance 12 EUR). Treading the cobblestones, worn smooth by centuries...
In a small valley in the Peloponnesus, the shrine of Asklepios, the god of medicine, developed out of a much earlier cult of Apollo (Maleatas), during the 6th century BC at the latest, as the official cult of the city-state of Epidaurus. Its principal monuments, particularly the temple of...
We took a highway to Peloponnese (🛣 15,65 EUR) to reach a hilltop backed by powerful mountains, where stand the somber and mighty ruins of Ancient Mycenae, home of Agamemnon, the legendary king who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. For four centuries in the second millennium BC...
We decided to spend five days in the city, from where many of Classical civilization’s intellectual and artistic ideas originated. It is generally considered to be the birthplace of Western civilization. When approached from the Middle East, Athens, with its tall buildings and trendy...
The monastery of Moni Hosios Loukas, a UNESCO World Heritage site (entrance 4 EUR), is situated at a scenic site on the slopes of Mount Helicon. It overlooks a remote valley 23 kilometers southeast of Arahova. Dedicated to a 10th-century hermit Luke of Steiris canonized for his healing...
We spent one day in the ancient sanctuary of Delphi. For the Greeks, Delphi marked the very center of the world, a sacred space where human beings could communicate directly with the gods. Blending harmoniously with the superb landscape and charged with sacred meaning, Delphi in the 6th...
Our first stop in Macedonia was a small city on the shores of Lake Ohrid with a compact old town, where medieval churches, monasteries, and open-air ruins stand alongside traditional houses with red-tiled roofs. The massive walls of the centuries-old Samoil’s Fortress, at the top of the...
Kokino, a bronze age ritual site, is a megalithic observatory sitting atop a volcanic hill. In 2001, the ruins of a Bronze Age settlement were found outside the small North Macedonian village of Kokino. Amid the signs of occupation like pieces of vessels and weapons, researchers also...
We made a short stop in Gračanica Monastery (it’s not allowed to take photos inside). The monastery, which is set on large, grassy grounds, was built by the Serbian king Stefan Milutin in 1321 on the ruins of a 6th-century basilica. The medieval-era paintings here are impressive enough...
Leaving Peja was a nightmare, because Google navigation brought us deep into downtown, literally just in the main square, it was not easy to turn back and find the correct road, but we made it. After thirty minutes Google brought us again to the totally wrong location in Dečani, so if you...