A modern exploration of ancient Greece

If your ideal vacation is to hang out on a beach, drink beer, and watch passersby, don’t bother to keep reading. However, if you are a traveler who wants to experience a country by getting the feel of its people, food, and history, this column is for you.

Let’s go on a drive around one of the most scenic and historic peninsulas in the world, the Peloponnesian. It begins in the cradle of democracy, Athens, and goes south through Corinth, the ancient city where Paul preached, and continues to the Gibraltar of Greece, Monemvasia. The driving is routine and the scenery, ancient ruins, and food are all superb.

A number of airlines serve Athens; one of the ways to get there is to fly to Zurich, Switzerland, spend a day there to rest, then fly to Athens. Spend some time there. The National Archaeological Museum, the Acropolis, and Plaka (old city) are musts.

Stand on the low hill beside the Acropolis where Paul addressed the Stoics of Athens. At night when the Parthenon is lighted and the bouzoukis are playing, the Plaka is magical. Stay on Syntagma Square in a four- or five-star hotel, or venture into the old city and be just as comfortable and a lot closer to the action for a lot less money.

A short trip from Athens to the nearby mountains will lead to where Alexander the Great was told by the Oracle of Delphi: “You will be a great ruler.”

We were living in Benghazi when we took a mid-January trip to Athens. After a few days in the city we took a bus to Delphi and walked through snow in the ancient ruins. I have never been that cold.

We could hardly wait to get on that warm bus. It stopped at a small town, where we opened the bus window and bought two lamb shish kabobs for the equivalent of 50 cents each for supper. The best money I’ve ever spent.

Our trip to the Peloponnesian came much later when we traveled there in a rental car with El Dorado friends Clara and Dr. Steve Jones. Our first stop was the Corinth Canal, which cuts across the peninsula to link the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea.

In the days when Apostle Paul preached in Corinth, slaves dragged ships across the four-mile strip of land, which saved weeks of sailing around the peninsula. One of the Roman Caesars started to cut a canal, but Egyptian engineers told him the Aegean Sea would flow through and flood Rome. That Caesar listened to them, and stopped construction.

The canal, which looks like a saber cut through the rock, was built centuries later in the late 1800s, and didn’t flood Rome.

It’s only a few miles on to the city of Corinth. The upper fortified city is well preserved, and the view is spectacular. Don’t bother with the new town.

Next stop: the ancient ruins of Mycenae, with their main entrance through the 13th-century Lion Gate. When looking closely at the two lions framing the gate, it’s clear that the gate is not an arch. It’s a relieving triangle.

The museum and the excavated and restored ruins of the tombs inside the Gate are worth visiting for most of a day. Nearby is the tomb of Agamemnon, easy to reach but a little disappointing, as it is just a huge empty domed structure.

Drive onward through the mountains to the coastal town of Nafplio, which advertises itself as the most beautiful village on the mainland. It has a wonderful medieval atmosphere along the narrow paved streets of the Old Town.

On top of a hill above Nafplio is the fortress of Palamidi, which has a great view of the Aegean Sea. At the entrance of the port near the beachfront there are a number of fine seafood restaurants. We had lunch there outside on an open patio, and the fresh fish right out of the Aegean was wonderful.

The next stop is Monemvasia, its impressive city wall perched above the Aegean at the end of a causeway.

The small town is pedestrian-only. We parked our car and carried our bags into the old village. We stayed there a couple of nights and went to a restaurant down the street from our hotel overlooking Homer’s Wine Dark Sea. The meal was fresh seafood.

However, just after we had paid our bill, the lights went out in the entire town. We figured they would come back on in a few minutes, but the restaurant folks seemed to take lightsout as time to get out the lanterns.

We started trying to figure out how to get down a pitch-black street. We didn’t have a flashlight, but after a few minutes we came up with a packet of tissues and some matches. We’d light a tissue, throw it in front of us on the street, then walk to the burning tissue and do the same thing over and over again until we came to the handrail up to our hotel.

On our return to Athens, we drove through ancient Sparta. A short drive from new Sparta, very near the town of Mystras, is an impressive Byzantine palace with numerous churches. From the top of the palace there’s a view of the valley of Sparta, and remnants of a society where every man was a warrior.

The drive to Athens from Sparta took less than three hours, including a couple of stops. We all gave that trip to Greece and the drive five stars.