There are many places worth
visiting in the northeast Peloponnese. It's not very far to Corinth and
you can visit the archaeological sites of Ancient Corinth, Ancient Nemea,
Mycenae, Tiryns, and the amazing amphitheatre at
Ancient Epidavros. To see it all properly
you'll need two days. Rather than returning to Athens overnight you could
stay for one night in the lovely old town of Nafplio.
Your first stop should be at
the Corinth Canal:
www.grisel.net/corinth_canal.htm
There’s a great view of the
canal from the high bridge. The low bridge
is fascinating because, very unusually, it goes down under the water to let
ships pass. Please see this local map.
A short distance further is
Ancient Corinth:
http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2388
If you’re feeling energetic,
take a climb to the large Acrocorinth hill fort above
Ancient Corinth for some amazing views:
www.ancientcorinth.net/acrocorinth.aspx
https://www.corinth-museum.gr/en/archaeological-site/acrocorinth/
Half an hour further there’s a
very nice archaeological site and museum at Ancient Nemea:
http://nemeangames.org/en/ancient-nemea/excavations-ucb.html
https://nemeangames.org/ancient-nemea/temple-and-sanctuary-of-zeus.html
In that area you can taste some
excellent local wines. Many of the red wines of Nemea are among the best in
Greece. One example is:
Unfortunately they have become
very greedy and shop prices are sometimes cheaper than their direct sales.
From there it’s a short drive
to Ancient Mycenae (if you’re running out of time, head for Nafplio
and return the next day):
… and
then Tiryns:
https://ancient-greece.org/archaeology/tiryns.html
The lovely old town of Nafplio is a great place to stay overnight if you need a
second day and you don’t want to return to Nea Makri:
www.nafplion.gr/homepage_en.html
www.visitgreece.gr/en/main_cities/nafplio
Half an hour from Nafplio is the amazing amphitheatre
at Ancient Epidavros, still used for summer theatre:
www.hikenow.net/Greece/epidavros-greece.html
To return a different way you
could drive down to Galatas, take the very short
local ferry crossing to Poros island,
then get a ferry to Piraeus.
