BACK WITH MORE OF THE BEST OF EUROPE.

THIS TIME, WE'RE IN GREECE, CLIMBING 999 STEPS

TO BRING YOU THE BEST OF THE PELOPONNESIAN PENINSULA.

THANKS FOR JOINING US.

PELOPONNESIA WAS THE HEARTLAND OF ANCIENT GREECE.

ITS WILD AND MOUNTAINOUS LANDSCAPE HAS HOSTED

THE INTERMINABLE RISE AND FALL OF CULTURES,

WHICH MAKES FOR FASCINATING SIGHTSEEING TODAY.

THE PENINSULA IS DOTTED WITH STRIKING RUINS,

FROM ANCIENT MYCENAEN DOMES

TO GOLDEN AGE TEMPLES

TO OPPOSING VENETIAN FORTRESSES.

AND WE'LL ALSO SEE STUNNING SEASIDE SCENERY,

A GREEK ORTHODOX SERVICE,

AND THE BREATHTAKING REMAINS OF A BYZANTINE CITADEL.

IN THE EXTREME SOUTH OF EUROPE IS GREECE,

AND IN THE SOUTH OF GREECE,

A SHORT DRIVE FROM ATHENS,

IS THE PELOPONNESE,

A PENINSULA BARELY HANGING FROM THE MAINLAND.

OUR TOUR INCLUDES MYCENAE, NAFPLION,

EPIDAVROS, OLYMPIA, KARDAMYLI,

THE RUGGED MANI PENINSULA, AND MONEMVASIA.

PELOPONNESIAN HISTORY IS GREECE'S HISTORY.

WARRING TRIBES, PAN-HELLENIC GAMES,

GOLDEN AGE GREEKS, ROMAN RULE,

CENTURIES OF BYZANTINE RULE.

THEN, WITH THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE

TO THE OTTOMAN TURKS IN THE 15th CENTURY,

THE PELOPONNESIAN PENINSULA BECAME PART OF

THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.

FINALLY, IN THE 19th CENTURY, AFTER 400 YEARS,

THE GREEKS THREW OUT THEIR TURKISH OVERLORDS

AND ESTABLISHED AN INDEPENDENT MODERN NATION.

GREECE, WITH A RELATIVELY SPARSE POPULATION

AND A FINE ROAD SYSTEM,

IS EASY TO COVER BY BUS OR CAR.

WE'VE RENTED A CAR IN ATHENS,

AND IN 90 MINUTES,

WE'RE CROSSING THE CORINTH CANAL.

THE CORINTH CANAL CUTS THE PELOPONNESIAN PENINSULA OFF

FROM THE REST OF GREECE.

2,000 YEARS AGO,

THE ROMAN EMPEROR NERO BROKE GROUND FOR THIS CANAL.

BUT THE FOUR-MILE-LONG DITCH WASN'T ACTUALLY DUG

UNTIL ABOUT A CENTURY AGO BY MODERN GREEKS.

OUR FIRST STOP IS ANCIENT MYCENAE,

THE OLDEST SITE YOU'RE LIKELY TO SEE

IN THIS LAND DOTTED BY SO MANY RUINS.

THE MYCENAENS, WHO DOMINATED THE GREEK WORLD

BETWEEN 1600 AND 1200 BC,

WERE THE FIRST BRONZE AGE SOCIETY

TO EMERGE ON THE EUROPEAN MAINLAND.

AS THE TORCH OF CIVILIZATION MOVED WESTWARD,

THEY PICKED IT UP FROM THE MINOANS,

AN EVEN EARLIER CIVILIZATION THAT THRIVED

ON THE GREEK ISLAND OF CRETE.

WHILE THE MINOANS ENJOYED THE LUXURY OF PEACE

ON THEIR REMOTE ISLAND, THE MYCENAENS

WERE A MILITARISTIC SOCIETY SURROUNDED BY ENEMIES.

THEIR CAPITAL WAS HEAVILY FORTIFIED

AND STOOD ON AN EASY-TO-DEFEND HILL

FLANKED BY STEEP RAVINES WITH VIEWS

ALL THE WAY TO THE SEA.

MYCENAE FLOURISHED BECAUSE IT WAS

IDEALLY SITUATED FOR TRADE

BY BOTH SEA AND LAND.

IN ITS DAY, THE MIGHTY LION GATE

WOULD HAVE BEEN AWE-INSPIRING.

STANDING STRONG HERE FOR OVER 3,000 YEARS,

IT WAS THE SYMBOL OF MYCENAEN POWER.

THESE WERE THE EARLY GREEKS HOMER WROTE OF

IN THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY.

KEEP IN MIND, THESE PEOPLE LIVED

1,000 YEARS BEFORE THE RISE OF ATHENS.

THEY WERE AS ANCIENT AND MYSTERIOUS

TO SOCRATES AND PLATO

AS THOSE GOLDEN AGE GREEKS ARE TO US.

WHILE THE RUINS ARE STARK AND SCANT,

WITH A LITTLE IMAGINATION, YOU CAN ENVISION LIFE HERE.

FOR EXAMPLE, TO FETCH WATER, RESIDENTS WOULD DESCEND

INTO THIS CLEVERLY CONSTRUCTED

MINE-LIKE SHAFT AND CLIMB WAY,

WAY, WAY DOWN.

I'M 60 FEET BELOW THE SURFACE.

THIS IS THE CISTERN WHERE THE WATER WAS COLLECTED,

PIPED IN FROM A SPRING THAT WAS

500 YARDS OUTSIDE THE WALLS.

EVEN BACK THEN, YOU COULDN'T HAVE

A GOOD FORTRESS WITHOUT WATER.

MYCENAE WAS AT THE PEAK OF ITS POWER

AROUND 1300 BC, AFTER WHICH

IT AND ITS EMPIRE SEEMED TO DISAPPEAR

VIRTUALLY OVERNIGHT.

A CIRCULAR WALL OF STONES DEFINED THE CEMETERY.

MYCENAE LAY UNAPPRECIATED UNTIL THE 19th CENTURY,

WHEN A TREASURE TROVE OF GOLD

WAS UNEARTHED IN THIS NECROPOLIS.

TODAY, THOSE TREASURES ARE THE STAR ATTRACTIONS

BACK IN ATHENS AT THE NATIONAL

ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM.

THIS DISCOVERY AFFIRMED THE ARCHAEOLOGISTS' THEORY

THAT MYCENAE WAS HOMER'S FABLED CITY RICH IN GOLD,

AND THE ELABORATE DETAIL MAKES

THE SOPHISTICATION OF THE MYCENAENS CLEAR.

THESE GOLDEN CUPS ARE EXQUISITE.

THE SO-CALLED MASK OF AGAMEMNON WAS A DEATH MASK

PLACED ON THE FACE OF A DEAD KING IN HIS COFFIN.

THE MYCENAENS TOOK GOOD CARE OF THEIR DEAD --

AT LEAST THEIR IMPORTANT DEAD.

THIS PASSAGEWAY LEADS TO AN UNDERGROUND ROYAL TOMB.

THE CORBELLED STONE WORK WAS AN ENGINEERING FEAT.

DESIGNED LIKE A STONE IGLOO, THIS THOLOS TOMB

WAS THE BIGGEST DOME OF ITS DAY.

THIS REMARKABLE STRUCTURE REMAINED

THE KING OF DOMES UNTIL THE ROMANS BUILT

THEIR PANTHEON ABOUT 1,400 YEARS LATER.

ONE WAY TO JUDGE A SOCIETY'S ARCHITECTURAL FINESSE

IS BY THE DISTANCE IT CAN SPAN WITH NO INTERNAL SUPPORTS.

BY TODAY'S STANDARDS, THIS STRUCTURE'S NOT MUCH,

BUT BACK THEN, IT WAS A WONDER.

NEARBY ON THE COAST,

THE CITY OF NAFPLION IS THE PERFECT BASE

FOR EXPLORING THE NORTHEAST CORNER

OF THE PELOPONNESIAN PENINSULA.

NAFPLION IS A STRIKING REMINDER

THAT THIS PART OF GREECE WAS, FOR CENTURIES,

AN OUTPOST OF VENICE.

THE ISLAND IN THE HARBOR WAS THE FIRST LINE OF LOCAL DEFENSE.

THE SECOND LINE WAS THE PALAMIDI FORTRESS

CAPPING THE HILLTOP HIGH ABOVE.

CLIMB 999 STEPS ABOVE NAFPLION AND YOU REACH

THIS EARLY-18th CENTURY FORTRESS.

YOUR REWARD, ALONG WITH A GREAT VIEW,

IS A CHANCE TO APPRECIATE THE FAR-REACHING POWER

OF THE VENETIAN EMPIRE IN ITS DAY.

THE PALAMIDI FORTRESS, REGARDED AS THE BEST EXAMPLE

OF VENETIAN MILITARY ARCHITECTURE,

SAW PLENTY OF ACTION.

IT FELL TO THE OTTOMANS IN 1715, PLAYED A ROLE

IN THE GREEK WAR OF INDEPENDENCE IN THE 1820s,

AND WAS OCCUPIED BY THE NAZIS DURING WORLD WAR II.

NAFPLION IS ONE OF GREECE'S PRETTIEST TOWNS.

ITS NARROW STREETS ARE LINED BY ELEGANT VENETIAN HOUSES

AND GRACEFUL NEOCLASSICAL MANSIONS.

LIKE THE BIG SQUARE IN ATHENS,

NAFPLION'S MAIN SQUARE IS CALLED SYNTAGMA

OR CONSTITUTION SQUARE.

A CONSTITUTION WAS THE DREAM OF MANY IN THE 1820s

AS THE GREEKS WERE CREATING THEIR NEWLY INDEPENDENT NATION.

AS THIS TOWN WAS ONE OF THE FIRST LIBERATED FROM

THE OTTOMAN TURKS IN 1822, NAFPLION BECAME

THE NEW COUNTRY'S FIRST CAPITAL CITY.

THIS SQUARE IS A DELIGHTFUL MIX OF ARCHITECTURE

REVEALING THE MANY LAYERS OF LOCAL HISTORY.

THE OLD VENETIAN ARSENAL STILL SPORTS

THE SYMBOL OF VENICE -- THE WINGED LION OF ST. MARK.

THE DOMED MOSQUES ARE A REMINDER

OF CENTURIES OF MUSLIM OTTOMAN RULE.

THIS MOSQUE WAS CONVERTED TO HOUSE

INDEPENDENT GREECE'S FIRST PARLIAMENT.

AT THE TOP OF THE TOWN, OUR HOTEL'S

STONY COURTYARD FITS RIGHT IN.

THE BREAKFAST ROOM COMES WITH FRIENDLY SERVICE

AND A COMMANDING VIEW.

AND THE BEDROOMS ARE A TASTEFUL MIX

OF STONE AND WOOD.

THE HARBOR FRONT PROMENADE FEATURES

INVITING BARS AND COUCH-FILLED CAFES

WHICH ATTRACT A RELAXED CROWD.

THE SOFAS ENCOURAGE LOCALS AND VISITORS ALIKE

TO STAY A WHILE, AND,

IF YOU STAY LONG ENOUGH, NEARBY TAVERNAS,

AS RUSTIC RESTAURANTS ARE CALLED HERE,

SERVE THE FISH DISH OF YOUR DREAMS.

AN HOUR'S DRIVE EAST

IS THE SANCTUARY AT EPIDAVROS

WITH THE BEST-PRESERVED THEATER IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

SURROUNDED BY THE SCANT REMAINS OF ITS CITY.

IN 400 BC, EPIDAVROS, WITH A SPRAWLING COMPLEX

OF HOSPITALS AND SICK WARDS,

WAS THE MOST FAMOUS HEALING CENTER

IN THE GREEK WORLD.

IT WAS A PLACE OF MIRACULOUS CURES

AND COMFORTABLE BENCHES WHERE THE SICK CAME

TO BE TREATED BY DOCTOR PRIESTS DOING THE WORK

OF ASCLEPIOS, THE GREEK GOD OF MEDICINE.

THE HIGHLIGHT OF EPIDAVROS IS ITS FINE THEATER,

WHICH PROVIDED ENTERTAINMENT FOR THOSE WHO MADE

THE PILGRIMAGE HERE FROM ALL OVER GREECE.

IT CONTINUED TO OPERATE UNTIL 426 AD,

WHEN EMPEROR THEODOSIUS II, WHO WAS A CHRISTIAN,

CLOSED IT DOWN ALONG WITH ALL OTHER PAGAN SANCTUARIES.

GIVEN ITS SIZE, OVER 12,000 SEATS,

AND OBVIOUS LACK OF MODERN AMPLIFICATION,

THE ACOUSTICS NEEDED TO BE PERFECT,

AND THEY STILL ARE.

FRIENDS, GREEKS, WAYFARERS.

IN THESE TIMES OF DISCORD,

FEAR IS RAMPANT IN OUR SOCIETY.

I CONTEND THAT THE FLIP SIDE OF FEAR

IS UNDERSTANDING, AND THOSE WHO TRAVEL

WILL REAP GREAT UNDERSTANDING BY MEETING PEOPLE

WHO FIND OTHER TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT

AND GOD-GIVEN.

[ CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ]

THE RUGGED, SPARSELY POPULATED TERRAIN

OF THE PELOPONNESE EVOKES ANCIENT TIMES

WHEN GREEKS CONSIDERED THIS

A MYSTERIOUS AND FRIGHTENING LAND --

A MYTHIC WORLD OF TERRIFYING CREATURES.

NO WONDER IT WAS HERE THAT HERCULES WAS SENT

TO PERFORM MOST OF HIS DAUNTING LABORS.

ANCIENT ATHLETES WERE TESTED HERE, AS WELL.

THE SANCTUARY OF OLYMPIA

WAS THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

DESPITE THE TOURIST CROWDS, IT REMAINS

AN EVOCATIVE PLACE NESTLED AMONG SHADY TREES.

WANDERING ITS EXTENSIVE RUINS, ITS CLEAR

OLYMPIA WAS MUCH MORE THAN A STADIUM.

YES, ZEUS.

LOCAL TOUR GUIDE NIKI VLACHOU HELPS EXPLAIN.

SO, IT'S CALLED THE SANCTUARY OF OLYMPIA.

YES, BUT IT WAS PRIMARILY A RELIGIOUS PLACE

DEDICATED TO ZEUS AND THE REST OF THE GODS

WITH TEMPLES ALL OVER, AND IT WAS ONLY

OPEN TO PEOPLE DURING THE GAMES...

OKAY.

FOR OVER 1,000 YEARS.

Steves: THE TEMPLE OF ZEUS WAS MAGNIFICENT

IN THE 5th CENTURY BC, AND REMINDS US THAT

THE GAMES WERE HELD IN HONOR OF THE SUPREME DEITY

OF THE GREEK PANTHEON, OR WORLD OF GODS.

INSIDE THIS TEMPLE WAS THAT AMAZING STATUE OF ZEUS

WHICH WAS CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF

THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD.

GOLD AND IVORY TOWERING IN THE TEMPLE

THAT MADE THE GREEKS LOSE THEIR MINDS

BY SEEING ZEUS ALIVE IN FRONT OF THEM.

THIS WAS ONE OF THEIR CHANCES TO MEET

THE GOD IN PERSON, AS THEY THOUGHT.

Steves: SIX CENTURIES AFTER CHRIST,

EARTHQUAKES SENT ITS COLUMNS TUMBLING.

TODAY, THEY LIE HERE,

AS IF TO ILLUSTRATE HOW GREEK COLUMNS

WERE STACKS OF FLUTED LIMESTONE DRUMS

HELD TOGETHER WITH SQUARE PEGS.

THE POPULARITY OF THE GAMES GREW RAPIDLY,

ATTRACTING ATHLETES FROM THROUGHOUT THE GREEK WORLD

TO COMPETE IN AN EVER-INCREASING NUMBER OF EVENTS.

THERE WAS JAVELIN, DISCUS, BOXING.

THERE WAS A SPRINT OF ONE STADIUM LENGTH,

THE TWO-STADIUM SPRINT, EVEN TWO-STADIUM SPRINT

NAKED WITH ALL YOUR ARMOR.

THE LAST OF THE ANCIENT GAMES WERE HELD IN 393 AD,

NOT TO BE STARTED AGAIN FOR 1,500 YEARS.

SO, WHY THE GAMES?

Vlachou: TO UNIFY THE GREEKS, TO STRENGTHEN THE GREEK CULTURE,

AND TO ALSO TEACH ALL THESE YOUNG BOYS

THE MILITARY SKILLS THEY NEEDED.

PLUS, THEY HAD ALL THESE CLASSROOMS HERE

TO TEACH THEM THE GREEK PHILOSOPHY.

SO THE OLYMPIC GAMES ACTUALLY MADE

THE GREEK CULTURE STRONGER.