Old Navarino castle above the bay

Palaiokastro was built by the Franks in the 1280s on a headland that already carried a Mycenaean acropolis, and it has been left alone ever since: no ticket office, no railings, no restoration. What is left is a long curtain wall, two towers and a gate arch, all bleached limestone, standing on a ridge with sea on three sides and Voidokilia's ring of sand two hundred metres below.

As a location it does two things. The gate and the broken wall make strong, graphic foregrounds with sky behind them, and the ridge just below the walls gives the view down onto the bay that most people come for. Nestor's Cave, a wide sea-worn cavern with a hole in its roof, opens off the same path a few minutes lower and works as a natural frame.

The climb from the Voidokilia end is thirty minutes over loose rock and steps cut into the slope; it is straightforward but not for smooth soles or anyone unsteady. Go early morning or in the two hours before sunset — the ridge is completely exposed and the middle of the day is punishing. There is no shade, no water and no phone signal in places; sections are occasionally closed after rockfalls, so check before you set out.