Peloponnese flights and travel guide

The southern part of mainland Greece, known as Morea, consists of the large Peloponnese Peninsula, now divided from the mainland by the Corinth Canal. The peninsula plays host to virtually every tourist that comes to Greece, because most of the country's important and imposing ancient sites are found on its landmass, which is dominated by two mountain ranges, the Taygetos and Parnon. The peninsula is a playground, too, for the Greeks themselves. Summer sees thousands of Athenians heading south at weekends to enjoy the seaside resorts and beaches of the Peninsula. Besides ancient ruins, the fertile coastal strip of the Peloponnese also serves as Greece's market garden and centre for wine production. Many tourists enter Greece by sea from Italy and other Mediterranean ports through the Peloponnese port of Patras, the third largest town in Greece. The Olympic torch is ritually lit at Olympia by a high priestess, just as it was in ancient times, and carried across the continents of the world to the host country to mark the start of the Games.

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Peloponnese Insider Information

• The ancient names of Greek history are found in the Peloponnese Peninsula: visit Mount Taygetes where young male Spartan babies were put outside on the mountain to die if they looked too weak to be useful fighters. Our words "Spartan" and "laconic" come from this area of Greece which had the reputation of being physically tough and verbally minimal..
• See Clytemnestra’s tomb at the ancient ruin of Mycenae. Clytemnestra was ruled over by her husband Agamemmon who rushed off to fight the Trojan War when Helen, his brother Menelaus's wife, eloped to Troy. He fought in Troy for 10 years but was killed by Clytemnestra on his return. (Yes that’s what Greek myths are all about).
• Olympia is the site of the original Olympic games and the place where the Olympic flame is lit with a parabolic mirror and then carried by hand to the site of the current games.

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Peloponnese Airports

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