1. The Achaia Clauss wine tasting center: The Achaia Clauss Winery is situated upon a verdant hill about eight kilometers from the city of Patras. The Achaia Clauss Winery was founded in the 19th century by Gustav Clauss of Bavaria, Germany, who was besotted with the natural beauty of the region when he came to Patras to work for a German trading company. Gustav became fascinated by the vineyards around Patras and by the great wines they produced. He soon bought a small vineyard and started producing wines, initially for his own consumption.

The success of his wine among his friends motivated Herr Claus to set up a large-scale winery. The Achaia Clauss Company was founded in 1861 and began commercial production of various types of wines, including the famous Mavrodaphne of Patras, which soon achieved great success in the Greek and the international markets, especially in Europe. In 1908, after the death of Gustav Clauss, the company was auctioned by the Greek government and sold to Vlassis Antonopoulos. However, Antonopoulos too was facing financial problems and sold the winery to its present owner, Nikos Karapanos. Although many decades have passed and the owner has changed, the Achaia Clauss Winery maintains the traditional method for producing wine. The Achaia Clauss Winery is a very popular tourist destination at present, attracting around 200,000 visitors annually. Visitors are charmed by the breathtaking view of the landscape amidst which the winery is situated. Also of great interest are the 19th century stone buildings and the huge wine barrels carved from oak, especially the one containing the century-old Mavrodaphne wine (more information at: http://www.greeka.com/peloponnese/patra/patra-museums/patra-achaia-clauss.htm)

 

 

2. Rion-Antirrio bridge: It connects Patras' eastern most suburb of Rio to the town of Antirrio, connecting the Peloponnese peninsula with mainland Greece. Its official name is the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge. (Charilaos Trikoupis was a 19th century Greek prime minister, and suggested the idea of building a bridge between Rion and Antirion); The 2,880 m (9,449 ft) long bridge dramatically improves access to and from the Peloponnese. Its width is 28 m (92 ft) — it has two vehicle lanes per direction, an emergency lane and a pedestrian walkway. Its five-span four-pylon cable-stayed portion of length 2,252 m (7,388 ft) is the world's second longest cable-stayed deck. This bridge is widely consideredto be an engineering masterpiece owing to several solutions applied to span the difficult site. These difficulties include deep water, insecure materials for foundations, seismic activity, the probability of tsunamis, and the expansion of the Gulf of Corinth due to plate tectonics.The bridge received the 2006 Outstanding Structure Award from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering. The 2004 Olympic torchbearers were the first to officially cross its length. One of them was Otto Rehhagel, the German football coach who won the Euro 2004 Championships for Greece. Another one was Costas Laliotis, the former Minister of Public Works during whose term the project had begun.

 

 

3. The new archaelogical nuseum of Patras: Built on a 28,000 square meter plot of land, with 8,000 square meter of interior spaces, it is the second largest museum of Greece. The area surrounding the museum compromises of a 500 square meter pool, a shiny metallic dome and greenery. It houses collections about the history of Patras and the surrounding area from prehistory to the end of Roman times. The museum has three permanent and one periodic thematic sections. The New Archaeological Museum of Patras is located in the city of Patras, Greece. It opened on July 24, 2009. The construction plans for the museum was initially announced by the then Minister of Culture, Melina Mercouri. However, the construction plans did not materialise until 2004. Built on a 28,000 square meter plot of land, with 8,000 square meter of interior spaces, it is the second largest museum of Greece.

 The area surrounding the museum compromises of a 500 square meter pool, a shiny metallic dome and greenery. In the near future, the vacant land next to the museum will be turned into a cultural park. It houses collections about the history of Patras and the surrounding area from prehistory to the end of Roman times. The museum was designed by the architect Mr. Theofanis Bobotis. The museum has four thematic sections, three of which permanent and one periodic. From the three permanent, currently only two are open to the public with the third expected to be opened by the end of the year. The periodic section will be hosting various exhibitions around the year. According to the archaeologists of the 6th Antiquity Conservancy, the 70% of the items exhibited are seeing the light of the day for the first time in the past thirty years. The museum is open Tuesday-Friday from 8 am till 3 pm; entrance is currently free of charge.

4. Nafpaktos: This picturesque town is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Sterea. Its long history and tradition is evident in its narrow cobbled streets, its Venetian castle and its nice port. Nafpaktos’ castle is unique in Europe and it is mostly known from the Battle of Lepanto in the 16th century. 

 

 

6. Cave of Lakes of Kalavryta: In the village Kastria of Achaia, 60km from Tripoli and 9 Km from Kleitoria , lies the famous “Cave of the Lakes”. It is a rare creation of Nature. Apart from its labyrinth of corridors, its mysterious galleries and its strange stalactite formations, the “Cave of the Lakes” has something exclusively unique that does not exist in other well known caves. Inside the cave there is a string of cascading lakes forming three different levels that establish its uniqueness in the world. The cave is an old subterranean river whose explored length is 1980 meters. In winter when the snow melts, the cave is transformed into a subterranean river with natural waterfalls. In the summer months, part of the cave dries up revealing a lace-work of stone-basins and dams of up to 4 m. in height. The rest of the cave retains water permanently throughout the year in 13 picturesque lakes. The developed part of the cave is currently 500 meters long. It includes artistic lighting. The visitor enters the cave through an artificial tunnel which leads directly to the second floor. The dimensions of this part of the cavern create awe, rapture, admiration. The passage from lake to lake is possible by small man-made bridges.  At the cave's lower floor, human and animal fossils were found, among which that of a hippopotamus. This part of the cave is intended to become a biological cave laboratory of international standing. Agia Lavra Monastery: Agia Lavra ("Holy Lavra") is a monastery near Kalavryta, Achaea, Greece. It was built in 961 AD, on Helmos Mountain, at an altitude of 961 meters, and can be described as the symbolic birth-place of modern Greece. It stands as one of the oldest monasteries in the Peloponnese. It was built in 10th century but was burnt to the ground in 1585 by the Turks. It was rebuilt in 1600 while the frescoes by Anthimos were completed in 1645. It was burnt again in 1715 and in 1826 by the armies of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt. In 1850 after the rebirth of modern Greece, the building was completely rebuilt. The monastery was burned down by German forces in 1943. It is famously linked with the Greek War of Independence, since it was here that the call for Eleftheria I Thanatos (Freedom or Death ) was first heard on 25 March 1821, launching the revolution against the Ottoman Empire. That day, Bishop Germanos of Patras performed a doxology and administered an oath to the Peloponnesian fighters. The revolutionary flag was raised by Bishop under the plane tree just outside the gate of the monastery. To this day, the vestments of Germanos, documents, books, icons, the Gospel of Tsarina Catherine II of Russia, sacred vessels, crosses, etc are preserved in the Monastery's museum, along with the holy relics of St Alexios, given by Byzantine emperor Manuel Palaeologus in 1398. Pieces of embroidery, made with gold or silver threads woven in pure silk materials in Smyrna and Constantinople, are also possessions of the Monastery and they date from 16th century. On the hill opposite, a monument to the heroes of the Revolution of 1821 looks down upon the monastery.

7. Apollon Theatre of Patras: The Apollon Theatre is a theatre located in Patras east of Georgiou I Square, one of Patras' popular squares. It was first completed in 1872 and was planned by the famous German architect Ernst Ziller. It is a micrograph of the La Scala in Milan and is other oldest in the survived closed theatre of the recent years and the sensational architectural ornament of Patras. The Apollon Theatre is the main stage of the Patras Municipal and Regional Theatre since 1988. The Apollon Theatre was founded on February 11, 1871 and finished and opened on October 10, 1872. The Apollon Theatre is presently one of only three theatres with neoclassical architecture that survives in Greece (the other two are the Malliaropouleio Theatre in Tripoli in which opened in 1910 and the Apollo Theatre in Syros in which it first opened in 1864). Today, the Apollon Theatre of Patras raises tactically the representation from the Patras Municipal and Regional Theatre. The theatre can hold up to around 220 to 300 people.

 

9. St Andrew Cathedral of Patras:  Saint Andrew is a Greek Orthodox basilica (neo-Byzantine style) in the east side of the city of Patras in Greece. Construction of the church, of Greek Byzantine style, began in 1908 under the supervision of the architect Anastasios Metaxas, followed by Georgios Nomikos. It was inaugurated in 1974. It is the largest church in Greece and the largest Byzantine-style church in the Balkans. The cathedral is dedicate to St. Andrew, the Apostle, who was crucified on an X-shaped cross, henceforward known as the St. Andrew's cross. His tomb soon attracted many pilgrims and quarrels arose over his relics; in the 4th c., some were removed to Constantinople while others were carried off by St. Regulus (or Rule), the Bishop of Patra, who was shipwrecked off the coast of Fife and founded St. Andrews in Scotland. The head however remained in Patras where in 805 a miraculous apparition of the Apostle put to flight the bands of Slavs who were attacking the city.