The Odyssey – Telemachus’ road

We collect you in Athens in the morning, so it is easier to arrive the day before. Acrocorinth comes first. A licensed guide leads you around the fortress hill that the film used as Agamemnon’s palace. Lunch is in Ancient Corinth. After that it is about three hours west to Pylos, and roughly four hours on the road across the whole day. In book 3, Telemachus lands at Pylos during a sacrifice of bulls to Poseidon, and Nestor tells him how Agamemnon came home and was murdered. Dinner is hosted near the water as Nestor’s table. We book it early because of the drive.

Nestor’s palace at Ano Englianos fills the morning, with a licensed guide. You see the throne room, the archive of the first Linear B tablets found on the mainland, and the clay bathtub that tradition links to Polycaste bathing Telemachus. In the afternoon, Giorgos takes the kayaks out on Navarino Bay, on a route set by the wind and the Natura rules. Afterwards you walk at Voidokilia, past the tholos tomb Pausanias gave to Thrasymedes, and climb to Nestor’s Cave. The film shot it as Polyphemus’ cave in March 2025. There is about an hour on the road, and the evening is free. Bring swim kit and a dry layer for the kayak.

Methoni castle and its sea tower, the Bourtzi, take up the morning with a licensed guide. The film shot trireme landings here in mid-March 2025. Lunch is in Methoni. The drive east to Kalamata then takes up to about an hour and a half. At sunset we go up to Kalamata castle, where Frazer saw traces of the fort of ancient Pharai. In Homer, Telemachus and Peisistratus reach Diocles’ house here at sundown after a day in the chariot. Dinner is hosted with a family or at an estate near the city. Carry a layer for the castle hill after dark.

Filippos meets you with the e-bikes for a morning across the Messinian plain, which the ancients called Makaria. The route runs through olive groves and the villages between them. The ride ends at a family olive mill or estate, where lunch comes with an oil tasting. Telemachus slept at Pharai on the way out and again on the way back, and so do you. The afternoon and evening are free in Kalamata, with about an hour of driving across the day. If cycling does not suit, you can swap the morning for a kayak at Kardamyli, one of the seven cities Agamemnon offers Achilles, or for Ancient Messene.

Up the road from Kalamata to the Lagkada pass, then on foot with our guide down a section of the Taygetos Trails through Trypi and Pikoulianika toward Mystras. The full trail from Longastra is 12.5 km, and we choose the section to suit the group. Frazer crossed here on horseback, and people still argue over whether a chariot could. Lunch and check-in are in Mystras. At sunset you are at the Menelaion at Therapne, the sanctuary of Menelaus and Helen above the Evrotas. Dinner is hosted at a Laconian estate or winery. There is about an hour and a half of driving. Wear walking shoes with grip.

Morning is for Mystras, five minutes from the base, with a licensed guide. The town is Byzantine, built between the 13th and 15th centuries, so this is the one morning that steps outside Homer. The afternoon and evening are free. The Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil in Sparta can be added on request. In Homer, Menelaus tells Telemachus of his own homecoming and offers him horses, and Helen gives him a robe. The film keeps Helen only as a memory, while Homer seats her at the table. There is about half an hour on the road today. Dinner is free, and we book a table on request.

Mycenae is about two hours north. A licensed guide leads you to the Lion Gate, the palace and the Treasury of Atreus. This was Agamemnon’s citadel, home of the king whose murder Nestor described on the first night at Pylos. Lunch is nearby. From there it is about an hour and 45 minutes to Athens, and roughly four hours on the road in total. For a morning flight we drive straight to the airport instead, which takes about three hours. If you stay on in Athens, the Mycenaean room of the National Archaeological Museum comes next, and its Pylos of Nestor exhibition runs to the end of January 2027.