My wife & I recently spent 5 days in Athens & having read a few books about the rise & fall of the Spartans, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit Laconia to tread in the footsteps of Agesilaus II, Cleomenes I & of course, Leonidas I, whilst looking upon Mt Taygetus & Mt Parnon.
Our guide & chauffeur for the day was Nikolaos who was very pleasant. His vehicle was clean, spacious and comfortable. His knowledge and insights were great especially that he was a descendant of Sparta too. He also kept us topped up with ice coffees which was most appreciated. During the longer parts of the drive Nik put on a documentary about Sparta for us to watch on our journey towards Sparta which my wife found very interesting as she had no prior knowledge of the area & the people in ancient times. He then put on a similar one about Corinth on our journey back there.
Initially visited the canal at Corinth before pushing on to Sparti. Took in the archaeological museum, tomb of Leonidas I, Acropolis & ancient theatre & the Leonidas I monument. Unfortunately for us they were carrying out work on the monument so only saw his foot haha. Following a spot of lunch & another iced coffee we headed towards Ancient Corinth. An impressive archaeological site in the shadow of the Acrocorinth, covering a vast area with a museum included too.
On our return to Athens, we stopped to look at the Corinth canal from the Saronic Gulf side as we had earlier been at the Gulf of Corinth end.
The whole day was around 10 hours but didn't feel like it. On the longer parts of the drive it was good to take in the landscape and views. I hadn't realised how mountainous Greece was.
We thoroughly enjoyed this trip, even my wife who was less than enthusiastic when I originally booked it so a big thumbs up from us. Thank you Nikolaos & Greece Taxi.