There are two things you need to know about Argolida: first, that it is beautiful; imagine the most wonderful place you’ve ever visited in Greece and rest assured that Argolida can easily be compared to it. Second, it has mountains…lots of them. It has mountains that reach all the way to the sea, it has mountains next to mountains and, in between, even more mountains. And all these are covered with endless forests, rocks and canyons and cliffs and hidden villages that make you wonder why would someone build there and then you take a turn in the road, having downshifted to second gear, and see the view and you don’t accelerate (for the next 50 meters, until the next turn), just to enjoy it. And suddenly…oleanders As we were going to Porto Heli from Athens, our first stop would be Epidaurus. There was no performance, we just wanted to see it. The mountains start from outside Corinth, but it is when we enter Argolida and get closer to Nea Epidavros (a village not really close to the Ancient Theater, but you wouldn’t say it’s far away) that everything explodes into colors. Through the trees, a village stands out, as if it is hanging from a cliff. The houses are stately and well taken care of, but only their roofs are showing over the green tree tops. And everywhere on the side of the street there are oleanders, in full spring bloom (the trip was near the end of May), white and pink all over the place. The people of Argolida – and this is something we noticed everywhere we went, not just Nea Epidavros – know how to take something beautiful and make it unique. Instead of following the road to Porto Heli, we went towards the Ancient Theater (there are signs everywhere; impossible to get lost). What’s impressive is that you think you’re in the middle of nowhere and suddenly you’ll see buses, dozens of visitors, food trucks, children running…it’s like returning to civilization. And you enter the theater, you climb the stairs and someone is walking on the stage and you can hear it and you understand why everyone who has ever visited is so impressed…and you’re thinking that you must definitely come during a performance.
The same archeological site hosts the Asklipieion and a small but beautiful museum, but let’s not kid ourselves. The theater is the real star of the show. Towards Porto Heli The road to Porto Heli kept following the same motif. Mountains, turns, every now and then something new to see. It was now late, so we didn’t go anywhere else. We just passed outside Kranidi (though we wouldn’t mind going through it, since it seems beautiful from far away) and then we started driving down the mountain to reach Porto Heli and our hotel AKS Porto Heli.
There wasn’t much time for anything, so we decided to see the town for a bit, walk along the main Porto Heli beach, until the end of the harbor, where the cafes and the bars are practically above the water; we also entered the narrow streets of Porto Heli and saw a different side of it. Then we got back to the hotel, because the itinerary said that the next day we would tour Argolida. Around Porto Heli
The real adventure started the next morning. Armed with a dozen of water bottles (because you never know) and a tank full of gas we started off first to see the areas close to Porto Heli and then venture farther away. We first stopped at Hinitsa beach and we were really convinced that it is one of the most beautiful beaches in Argolida. It helps that it is a very organized beach with AKS Hinitsa Bay Hotel right by it. We then went to Costa coast (pun intended, but not by us), where we could have taken the ferry to Spetses, but we didn’t because we wanted to enjoy Argolida. It is a nice enough place, but the real surprise came afterwards, as we headed for Aghios Aimilianos.
You wouldn’t call Aghios Aimilianos a village. It is more of a collection of some of the most beautiful houses you’ve ever seen, accompanied by one of the most picturesque chapels you’ve ever seen (and right above the waves) and a labyrinthine network of cement streets and dirt roads that guarantees you will get lost. Oh, and don’t trust your GPS in there…we should know. After Aghios Aimilianos and some adventure, we headed towards Ermioni, a town whose harbor is a photo opportunity on its own. If you have followed our course step by step (but why would you do that? Your choices are endless), this would be a good idea to sit down and have a cup of coffee and enjoy the sea, because the next stop is a bit far away. Leaving Ermioni behind Our next stop was Galatas, about an hour away by car; maybe a bit more. From Galatas you can take the ferry to get to Poros, even though we had the impression that we could swim there. But it’s probably really difficult, so don’t try it. We weren’t at the time interested in Poros (with our goal being to see Argolida), but in Troizina, which is probably one of the most beautiful and under-appreciated archeological sites in Greece.
You’ll start by driving up a mountain, you’ll pass by the village of Troizina, which is truly beautiful and unique, with cobblestone narrow streets; a sight to behold. And then you’ll think that you took a wrong turn somewhere, because the road becomes narrower and then you’re on a badly maintained dirt road…but at some point you’ll reach Troizina, with the ancient and byzantine monuments, under a magnificent mountain and its forest. And if you go at the right time, you might be enjoying it all by yourselves. We decided to go back to Porto Heli by another route (there aren’t that many; just two. The first is by the coast, but there are so many turns that you’ll think it belongs in the mountains and the other truly is in the mountains). There’s not much to tell about the route through the mountains of Argolida. Just that you’ll need to stop every now and then just to admire the views. Also, this inner route will bring you close to two of the most interesting sights in Argolida. The Avgou Monastery and Frahthi cave.
We headed down to Koilada, a picturesque fishing village, just 10 minutes away from Porto Heli. With its boatyard and the nice seafront, it is something that you’ll definitely want to see. Depending on the time, you might as well stay for some ouzo (just not the driver; deal?) To Athens The next day we would return to Athens. But we decided to go take the long way back, one that would bring us towards Nafplio and Mycenae. Instead of following the signs to Athens, we followed the ones to Nafplio and after a while we started seeing the ones that would take us to Mycenae.
We’ll put it simply: Mycenae is the most beautiful archeological site in Greece. Magnificent, truly ancient. It has a view of kilometers into the valley and one realizes why the ancients would choose that place to build fortresses and palaces, since they would be able to see anyone approaching. And the Tomb of Agamemnon is one of the scariest monuments in Greece. The picture here doesn’t do it justice since it doesn’t give you a sense of scale. It is huge! The rest of the trip home was uneventful…which is desirable, given that we were on the national highway. Hotels Peloponnese – AKS Porto Heli
