Exploring the Peloponnesos of Greece: Mani, Monemvasia, Gythio, Mystras, Koroni

The well-preserved, 14th-century Conventof Pantanassa. This features a beautifully ornate stone-carved facade and is still maintained by nuns, Mystras’ only inhabitants. Mystras, the 'wonder of the Morea', was built as an amphitheatre around the fortress erected in 1249 by the prince of Achaia, William of Villehardouin. Reconquered by the Byzantines, then occupied by the Ottoman Turks and the Venetians, the city was abandoned in 1832, leaving only the breathtaking medieval ruins, standing in a beautiful landscape. The Peloponnese peninsula is the real heart of traditional Greece. Ancient mountain villages interrupt the olive groves that line the rugged coastline that is surrounded by deep blue and turquoise waters of the Mediterranean.