10 historic Greek wonders away from the islands

Greece is home to some of the world’s most extraordinary heritage sites. These range from ancient buildings — such as the extraordinary monasteries of Meteora, perched high on sandstone pinnacles, and the Parthenon temple in Athens — to the pretty, pastel-hued villages that line the coast. There are marvels of engineering, too, including the Corinth Canal, which connects the Ionian and Aegean Seas, and the fortified island town of Monemvasia, which seems to tumble down the cliffs straight to the sea.

1. Parthenon

Nothing bellows ‘Ancient Greece’ like the Parthenon, the crowning glory of the hilltop Acropolis citadel and visible all over Athens. The temple was built by hand from white marble in 447 BCE to give thanks to Athena, goddess of wisdom and military victory, who locals believed saved the city during the Persian Wars. Its treasures take centre stage in the Acropolis Museum. A glass chamber displays the temple’s near 200ft-long frieze, with carvings so intricate and vivid, you can almost hear the thunder of hooves. acropolis-tickets.com

2. Rock churches of Meteora

‘Suspended in the air’ is the rough translation of Meteora, and it’s a fitting description of its most famous assets: six still-functioning monasteries, dating from the 14th to 16th centuries, perched on soaring sandstone pinnacles. Each is unique and, if you’ve got the puff, accessible – but don’t neglect the less obvious architectural treasures, visible (if not reachable) from the thickly wooded trails threaded between these natural pedestals. These include cave churches, ascetics’ lofty hollows, and a six-storey hermitage built into the cavity of a sheer rock face, which is so intricate and implausible it could be a fairy house.

3. Kavala

Jutting out into the turquoise Aegean Sea, Northern Greece’s ‘Blue City’ spells out its history in architecture. It was under Byzantine rule until the Ottomans rocked up in 1387, razing the acropolis and building a hulking 15th-century fortress in its place. The Turkish influence can still be felt in the cobbled alleys of the medina-like old town, Panagia, with its tangle of pastel-painted houses and hidden courtyards. Seek out the late-Ottoman Mohammed Ali’s House, where the former ruler of Egypt was born in 1769, and the blush-hued Halil Bey Mosque, before tackling the climb to the castle for soul-soaring views.

4. Soufli

Pressing up against Turkey, the town of Soufli in Greece’s Evros region gained fame across Europe for its silk production in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a wealthy legacy mapped out in mansions and bitziklikia, or ‘cocoon houses’, built specifically for it. A major stop on Greece’s Silk Road, the river valley was once cloaked in mulberry trees that fed the silkworms. This heritage is woven into its one-of-a-kind industrial architecture. Narrow, cobbled streets lead to stone-and-timber buildings unravelling the history of production. For insights into the town’s rich past, visit the Art of Silk Museum, lodged in a beautifully restored neoclassical house, and the chimney-topped Tzivre Silk Factory, founded by the Ceriano Fratelli company from Milan in 1910.

5. Corinth Canal

Pushing through solid limestone and creating a short-cut between the Ionian and Aegean seas, the four-mile-long, 80ft-wide Corinth Canal is an engineering marvel. The tyrant Periander dreamt up the canal in the sixth century BCE, but was afraid building it would provoke the wrath of the gods. Roman emperor Nero had no such qualms and struck the first blow himself with a golden pickaxe in 67 BCE. The canal was finally completed by the French in the 19th century. With sheer walls towering 300ft above the water, it’s an impressive sight. You can travel along it, on cruises lasting around 90 minutes.

6. Ancient Messini

In the southern Peloponnese, Ancient Messini delivers a shot of history without the madding crowds, with ruins as vast and impressively intact as those in much busier Olympia. The city-state was founded in 371 BCE after the Thebans defeated the Spartans at the Battle of Leuctra. And if you believe local legend, Zeus was born here and raised by nymphs Neda and Ithomi. History and myth intertwine as you explore its theatre, bathhouse, Doric temple and vast agora (marketplace), once the ancient city’s beating heart, framed by stoas (columned porticoes). Just as compelling are the Sanctuary of Asclepius, an ancient healing temple, and one of the largest and best-preserved stadiums in Greece, where once Roman gladiators did bloody battle.

 7. Monemvasia

The island Monemvasia off the Peloponnese’s east coast, linked to the mainland by a short causeway, was founded by the Byzantines in the sixth century, making it one of Europe’s oldest continuously inhabited fortified towns. Once a strategic port on Eastern Mediterranean shipping routes, its past glory is etched out in its rock-top medieval citadel, Kastro. A wander through the cobbled lanes of the lower town brings you to the main square and church of Christos Elkomenos, filled with Byzantine icons. A steep path clambers up to the medieval castle ruins for arresting views out to sea.

8. Ancient Olympia

The Olympic flame still burns brightly in Ancient Olympia in the Peloponnese, where the modern-day games have their Greek origins. From 776 BCE to 393 CE, the Olympics were held here quadrennially. Myth has it that Zeus, king of gods, victoriously wrestled his father Kronos for the throne at the first games. As you wander the sunlit ruins, scattered among plane and olive trees, you can almost envisage the athletes and the cheering spectators. Follow the trail past the gymnasium, palaestra (wrestling school) and Workshop of Pheidias – where the now-lost ivory-and-gold Statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was sculpted – to reach the sacred sanctuary of Altis, and finish at the nearby archaeological museum.

9. Ancient Mycenae

In Homeric lore, the most powerful Greek ruler at Troy was Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, immortalised in the 8th-century BCE epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey as a citadel ‘rich in gold’. Indeed, this was the greatest of Mycenaean cities in the late Bronze Age, its influence extending from the Argolis region of the eastern Peloponnese to the world beyond. You can still feel the rumble of history and myth as you pass through the mighty Lion Gate and the Cyclopean Walls – lore has it the namesake one-eyed giant built them from huge, rough-hewn limestone boulders. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the expansive, captivating ruins, encompassing royal tombs, apartments, artisans’ workshops and Agamemnon’s Palace reflect the dazzling scope of human genius.

10. Nafplio

Greece isn’t short of attractive coastal towns, but Nafplio blows most straight out of the water. And it has plenty of history to back up those good looks. A major port since the Bronze Age, when it was crowned by Akronafplia Fortress, the bijou city in the Argolis region of the eastern Peloponnese briefly served as capital of the newly independent Greek state until Athens took over in 1834. Its old town is one of Greece’s loveliest, with streets lined with pastel-hued Venetian mansions and bougainvillea-draped neoclassical houses leading to cafe-rimmed Syntagma Square. And that’s before you reach its biggest showstopper: Palamidi Fortress, a top-of-the-rock, early 18th-century Venetian citadel that is a masterpiece of engineering. Puff up 999 steps to the top for front-row views over city and sea.