The marvelous man-made Corinth canal connecting the Aegean and Ionian seas, as well as the Peloponnese peninsula with the central part of Greece. More than 2500 workers digging 6.400m for twelve years (from 1881 to 1893) Stop for photography, walk across on a pedestrian bridge and admire the canal from 80 m high

Diakopto is a town and a former municipality in Achaea / Peloponnese. The town of Diakopto is situated on the Gulf of Corinth, near the mouth of the Vouraikos river and at the lower end of the Vouraikos Gorge.

Diakopto is a town and a former municipality in Achaea / Peloponnese. The town of Diakopto is situated on the Gulf of Corinth, near the mouth of the Vouraikos river and at the lower end of the Vouraikos Gorge.

Meet your driver in Zachlorou train station, continue by car to Mega Spileo Monastery. The monastery is located in a large cave in a sheer cliff, where the western slopes of Mount Chelmos drop down to the gorge of the Vouraikos river. The cave was known in antiquity, and the geographer Pausanias reports that the daughters of Proetus found refuge there during their madness. In the first Christian centuries, Christian hermits occupied the cave. According to tradition, the monastery is one of the oldest in Greece, reputedly founded in 362 by the Thessalonian brothers Symeon and Theodore, who with the help of Euphrosyne (a local shepherdess, honored as saint for her part in these events) discovered in the cave the icon of the Theotokos painted by Luke the Evangelist. Several of the monks became members of the Filiki Etaireia and took part in the Greek War of Independence. On 8 December 1943, the German 117th Jäger Division destroyed the monastery and executed 22 monks and visitors as part of reprisals that culminated a few days later with the Massacre of Kalavryta. Monastery and surrounding areas are great for photography.

Agia Lavra is a monastery near Kalavryta. It was built in 961 AD, on Chelmos Mountain, at an altitude of 961 meters, and can be described as the symbolic birthplace of modern Greece. It stands as one of the oldest monasteries in the Peloponnese. It was built in the 10th century but was burnt to the ground in 1585 by the Turks. It was rebuilt in 1600 while the frescoes by Anthimos were completed in 1645. It was burnt again in 1715 and in 1826 by the armies of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt. In 1850 after the rebirth of modern Greece, the building was completely rebuilt. The monastery was burned down by German forces in 1943. It is famously linked with the Greek War of Independence, since it was here that the call for Eleftheria I Thanatos (Ελευθερία ή θάνατος) was first heard on 25 March 1821, launching the revolution against the Ottoman Empire. That day, Bishop Germanos of Patras performed a doxology and administered an oath to the Peloponnesians fighters. The revolutionary flag was raised by Bishop under the plane tree just outside the gate of the monastery. To this day, the vestments of Germanos, documents, books, icons, the Gospel of Tsarina Catherine II of Russia, sacred vessels, crosses, etc. are preserved in the Monastery's museum, along with the holy relics of St Alexios, given by Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaeologus in 1398. Pieces of embroidery, made with gold or silver threads woven in pure silk materials in Smyrna and Constantinople, are also possessions of the Monastery and they date from the 16th century. Winter hours: Daily 10:00-13:00 & 15:00-16:00. Summer hours: Daily 10:00-13:00 & 16:00-17:00.

During the late Middle Ages, the town was the center of the Barony of Kalavryta within the Frankish Principality of Achaea, until it was reconquered by the Byzantines in the 1270s. After that it remained under Byzantine control until the fall of the Despotate of the Morea to the Ottoman Turks in 1460. With the exception of a 30-year interlude of Venetian control, the town remained under Turkish rule until the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in 1821, in whose early stages Kalavryta figures prominently, it was here that on 21 March 1821 the flag of the revolt was raised at the monastery of Agia Lavra by bishop Germanos III of Old Patras Stay for overnight. We can arrange accommodation for you in selected Boutique Hotels A'class or 3/4* Hotels with breakfast (additional cost 110€ per double room / weekend-holidays 130€ per double room - if more than 1 room 15% less. Driver's room complimentary). If you wish to do do your own hotel reservation, you need to reserve an extra room for your driver.