8 Best Sights in The Peloponnese, Greece

This Byzantine and Frankish structure incorporates remnants of classical walls and was later expanded by the Turks and Venetians. You can drive almost to the entrance, and the grounds provide an unsurpassed view of the Argive plain.

Methoni's principal attraction is its kastro, an imposing, well-kept citadel that the Venetians built when they took control of the town in 1209. The town already had a long history: after the Second Messenian War in the 7th century BC, the victorious Spartans gave Methoni to the Nafplions, who had been exiled from their homeland for their Spartan alliance. With its natural harbor, the town was an important stop on trade routes between Europe and the East during the Middle Ages. A stone bridge leads over the dry moat to the citadel; various coats of arms mark the walls, including those of Genoa and Venice's Lion of St. Mark. A second bridge joins the kastro with the Bourtzi, an octagonal tower built above the crashing surf on a tiny islet during the Turkish occupation (shortly after 1500).

Neokastro, the "new fortress" that dominates the town, was built by the Turks in 1573 to control the southern—at that time, the only—entrance to Pylos Bay (an artificial embankment had drastically reduced the depth of the northern channel). Neokastro's well-preserved walls enclose the Church of the Transfiguration (a former mosque), cannons, and two anchors from the battle. The highest point of the castle is guarded by a hexagonal fort flanked by towers. A prison in the 18th and 19th centuries, the fort was more secure than most other Greek prisons because it sometimes housed convicts from the Mani, who continued their blood feuds while behind bars. Tickets include access to the archaeological museum and an excellent permanent exhibition on underwater archaeology, with relics recovered from submerged settlements around the Peloponnese.

The Turks called this imposing hilltop of ruined fortifications Its Kale (Inner Citadel). The heights are crowned with a series of castles: a Frankish one on the eastern end of the hill, a Byzantine one on the west, and a massive Castello del Torrione (or Toro for short), also at the eastern end, built by the Venetians around 1480. During the second Venetian occupation, the gates were strengthened and the huge Grimani bastion was added (1706) below the Toro. The Acronafplia is accessible from the west side via the elevator next to the Nafplia Palace hotel, which sits on the ruins of the Frankish fort, and from the east via Potamianou Street, whose flights of steps ascend the hillside from St. Spyridon Square. The remains of the fortifications can be explored free of charge on overgrown sections that provide stupendous views over Nafplion and the sea.

Nafplion's pocket-size fortress is a captivating presence on a speck of land in the middle of the harbor generously called St. Theodore's Island. The Venetians completed a single tower in 1473, and they enlarged it with a second tower and bastion when they recaptured Nafplion in 1686. Freedom fighters captured the Bourtzi during the War of Independence in 1822 and used the island to bombard the Turks defending the town. The new Greek government retreated to the island in the unsettled times following the revolution; after 1865, the fortress was the residence of the town executioners. Boats leave on no fixed schedule from the eastern end of Akti Miaouli for €5; at the time of writing, ongoing works on the castle meant that access to the fortress continues to be partly restricted.

In the early 13th century William de Champlitte divided the Peloponnese into 12 baronies. He bestowed Kalamata on Frankish knight Geoffrey de Villehardouin, who built a winter kastro. Through the centuries the castle was bitterly fought over by Franks, Slavs, and Byzantines, and today it's difficult to tell what of the remains is original. From Martiou 25 Square, walk up Ipapandis past the church, take the first left at the castle gates, and climb the small hill; the views of the town, coast, and the Messinian plain are lovely.

In the evening the Frankish and Venetian citadel atop a bluff overlooking Patras draws many Greek couples seeking a spectacular view; a long flight of stone steps ascends toward the Kastro from the southern edge of the Old Town. The sight of the shimmering ships negotiating the harbor stirs even the most travel-weary.