What to do and see in Laconia Region, Peloponnese: The Best Hidden Gems Things to do

A scenic mountain range located in the south of The Peloponnese, great for hiking.

One of the most impressive caves of Greece can be found near the village of Kastania on the southern tip of the Peloponnese, just minutes away from Neapoli. The route follows the winding mountain road leading to the forest-covered eastern slopes of Mt. Parnon. Rich in density and variety of shapes, colors and figures, Kastania Cave is classified as second of its kind in Europe. Nature needed three million years to create this fantasyscape with its unparalleled decor and numerous impressive formations such as enormous red and white "waterfalls", the gigantic columns, the "curtains" and the "sheets" that overflow like waxwork from the roof, "octopuses" and "corals" nest, "elephants" and "mushrooms", "birds" and caricatures, "exotic plants" and monumental creatures... Standing out among the numerous attractions of the cave are geological rarities such as discs, flat stalagmites, eccentrites and elictites. With a little luck, visitors may meet the cave's noble resident insect, the deaf and blind dolichopoda. The cave's surface covers 1,500 square meters separated into two levels and the visitor is guided along a 500-meter route. The cave was formed from limestones of Jurassic age (195-145 million years old) as a result of geological turmoil and chemical reaction. The stone decor owes its seven-color palette to crystalline carbonate lime enriched with several metal oxides. A cafe operates right outside the cave and nearby is the old church of St. Andrew, scarred by pirates and conquerors

A large underground network of caves full of strangely shaped rock formations.

The Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil, in Sparta (Peloponnese), transports you to the culture, history and technology of the olive and olive oil production in the Greek realm, from prehistoric times to the early 20th century. The Museum's objective is to highlight the ineffable relation of the olive with the identity of our country and, more generally, the Mediterranean basin. The olive and olive oil are presented here from different optical angles: the economy, nutrition and the olive's uses, religious worship, art and technology. The Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil offers you the opportunity to see the very first testimonies about the presence of the olive tree and the production of olive oil in Greece: Rare fossilized olive leaves, 50,000-60,000 years old, from the island of Santorini, the oldest findings offering proof of the presence of the olive tree en Greece Linear B Tablets of the 14th century BC (exact replicas), with the first written testimonies about the olive and olive oil.