Full Day Walking Tour Ancient Epidaurus - Polemarcha (Transfer from Athens)

ANCIENT EPIDAURUS

The Land of Epidauria, between the Saronic and Argolic Gulfs, is a blessed place with natural beauty and a profound historical past.

The rocky and wooded slopes of Mount Arachneos, the enchanting beaches and the sheltered coves with fishing boats and sailboats, take the traveler on a journey through myth and history. Castles, ancient roads with bridges and watchtowers, tombs, Byzantine temples, imposing theaters, enviable monuments make up the monumental canvas of the Municipality of Epidaurus.

TRAILS OF CULTURE

Visitors can enjoy a charming route from the central pier of the port of Archaia (Old) Epidaurus towards the coast of Vagionas.

The walker walks with the coastal arch on his right and gazing at the sea and on his left the village of Ancient Epidaurus in its entirety with a dominant image of the church of Agios Nikolaos, patron of the village which is built on the ruins of the Temple of the Goddess Heras.

The end of the beach is followed by a paved path about 150m long that leads to a secluded and romantic beach, "Kalamaki". The route continues in a pine forest environment with rich vegetation where green and blue are in complete harmony and ends at Akrotiri "Giannouzaina" with the metal lighthouse below. To the right of the route stretches the Saronic Sea with the nearby islands: Kyra, Agistri and Aegina.

PANAGIA POLEMARCHA

In Nea Epidavro, on a deserted beach with pine and olive trees, is the monastery of Polemarcha. The founder of the monastery was a monk named Antonios.

Antonios, who was a monk at Agnoundas monastery, wishing to isolate himself from his fellow monks, settled on the deserted beach of Polemarcha.

There he was followed by two younger monks, Nifon (later Patriarch of Constantinople) and Joseph. According to tradition, they alone built the first core of the monastery around 1400.

The monastery flourished in the following decades with the help of Patriarch Niphon, but the successive pirate raids forced the monks to leave Polemarcha and retire to the monastery of Kalami, in the hinterland of Epidauria. Since then the monastery has not functioned again.

Today, the catholicon is preserved from the complex, as well as several cells and additions. The catholicon is built in the three-aisled, vaulted basilica type with a gabled tiled roof. The aisles are divided by low arches that go on pesses and carry horseshoe-shaped arches that are reinforced at intervals by slings made of cut limestone and porolit. To the east it bears a semicircular arch, disproportionately small in relation to the size of the temple.

• Distance: 7.5 km
• Degree of Difficulty : EASY

Departure / Return Time:

• Departure: 08.00 (please be 10 minutes earlier at the meeting point)
• Return 21.00 (indicative)

Departure / Return Point:

• Syntagma Square/ Palataki

Cost:

• €30/person
• For students / unemployed / children €5 deduction