Kastoria, Greece: Lake, Legend and the Ancient Land of Orestis
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Among vineyards, olive groves and low, rounded hills in the north-eastern Peloponnese, the columns of the Temple of Nemean Zeus rise above a valley once filled with athletes, pilgrims and spectators from across the Greek world. Ancient Nemea reveals itself slowly. The sanctuary rests among cypress trees; the stadium lies beyond it against a natural…
Temples, myths, philosophers, and the mystery of silphium in the green highlands of ancient Libya Cyrene occupies one of the most unexpected settings of the ancient Mediterranean. Rather than standing beside the sea, it lies high in the fertile uplands of the Jebel Akhdar, Libya’s Green Mountain, approximately 13 kilometres inland and around 600 metres…
Ancient Messene lies in a broad and fertile valley beneath the imposing slopes of Mount Ithome in the southwestern Peloponnese. Above the archaeological site, the stone houses of the traditional village of Mavrommati cling to the hillside, while below, olive groves and cultivated fields spread across the Messenian landscape. It is a beautiful setting for…
Across the open plains of central-eastern Tunisia, an immense structure of honey-coloured stone rises above the rooftops of the modern town of El Jem. It appears almost unexpectedly, its tiers of arches climbing high into the North African sky, monumental and strangely solitary. From a distance, little in the surrounding landscape prepares the visitor for…
Among the ruins of a forgotten medieval town, water, plants, and human imagination have created one of the most romantic gardens in the world. Some gardens provide a feast for the eyes, while others awaken the imagination. The Garden of Ninfa belongs to the latter. Here, the ruins of a long-abandoned medieval town are being…
There are historic towns, and then there are places where the past seems to have settled quietly into the landscape. Maldon, in the heart of Victoria’s central goldfields, is one of those places. Its broad streets pass beneath old verandahs and between nineteenth-century shopfronts, stone buildings, churches, and weatherboard cottages. Corrugated roofs catch the sun,…