GREEK ODYSSEY ATLAS

Heraklion is Crete's capital and the doorway to Europe's first great civilisation. Just 5 km south lies the Palace of Knossos, the 1,300-room Minoan complex excavated by Arthur Evans from 1900 and tied to the legend of King Minos and the Minotaur's labyrinth. Back in town, the Archaeological Museum holds the world's finest Minoan collection, including the Phaistos Disc, the bull-leaping fresco and the snake goddesses. Walk the 16th-century Venetian walls to the tomb of Nikos Kazantzakis, author of Zorba the Greek, then end the day at the Koules fortress as fishing boats return to the old harbour.

Chania was Kydonia to the Minoans and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in Europe. Its crescent Venetian harbour, guarded by a lighthouse rebuilt in the 1830s, is lined with 14th-century arsenals, the pink-domed Kucuk Hasan Mosque and lanes of the former Jewish and Turkish quarters. Ruins of Minoan Kydonia sit right in the old town on Kastelli hill. From here, day trips reach the 16 km Samaria Gorge, the pink-sand beach of Elafonisi and the turquoise Balos Lagoon guarded by the island fortress of Gramvousa.

Founded by Corinthian colonists in 734 BC, Syracuse grew to rival Athens and was the greatest city of the Greek west. It was the home of Archimedes, who defended it against Rome in 212 BC with legendary war machines before being killed in the siege. The Neapolis park holds a 15,000-seat Greek theatre carved from the hillside, where Aeschylus premiered plays and performances still run each summer, beside the echoing Ear of Dionysius quarry cave. On Ortigia island, the Cathedral literally incorporates the columns of a 5th-century BC Doric temple of Athena, near the papyrus-fringed Fountain of Arethusa.

Rhodes layers ancient Greek sanctuaries, a remarkably preserved medieval city and long beach days. The Knights of St John ruled here from 1309 to 1522, leaving mighty walls, the cobbled Street of the Knights and the Palace of the Grand Master inside the UNESCO-listed old town. South along the coast, Lindos rises above whitewashed village lanes and sheltered bays, crowned by an acropolis with the Temple of Athena Lindia. Back at Mandraki harbour, imagine the ancient Colossus of Rhodes nearby—its exact location remains uncertain—then settle into a courtyard taverna for island cooking.

Naxos is the largest Cycladic island, with fertile valleys, marble villages and wide sandy beaches beneath Mount Zas. At the harbour, the Portara is the enormous marble doorway of an unfinished sixth-century BC temple, usually identified with Apollo; walk across its causeway for sunset. Chora's old town climbs to a Venetian castle, while inland Sangri holds the restored marble Temple of Demeter. Explore mountain villages such as Halki and Apiranthos before returning to the sea at Agios Prokopios or Plaka. The island's potatoes, cheeses and citrus liqueur make its tavernas a destination in themselves.

Corinth controlled the narrow land bridge between mainland Greece and the Peloponnese, growing wealthy through trade across two seas. At Ancient Corinth, south-west of the modern city, seven standing columns mark the sixth-century BC Temple of Apollo, beside the Roman forum, Peirene Fountain and the bema associated with the apostle Paul. Above the ruins, Acrocorinth's vast fortress preserves layers of Byzantine, Frankish, Venetian and Ottoman history, with views across the region. Nearby, the nineteenth-century Corinth Canal cuts dramatically through the isthmus; wine country around Nemea makes a rewarding onward trip.

Founded in 315 BC by Cassander and named for his wife, Alexander the Great's half-sister, Thessaloniki became a major Roman and Byzantine port. The Arch of Galerius and the massive Rotunda recall its imperial past, while UNESCO-listed Byzantine churches preserve extraordinary mosaics. Follow the waterfront to the Ottoman-era White Tower, then climb into Ano Poli for old lanes, city walls and views over the Thermaic Gulf. The city's Jewish, Ottoman and refugee histories also shaped its markets and kitchens: browse Kapani market and linger over pastries, seafood and lively shared plates.

Athens is where democracy, philosophy and theatre took shape. Above the city rises the Acropolis, crowned by the Parthenon, built in 447–432 BC under Pericles and once home to Phidias's gold-and-ivory Athena. Below, the glass-walled Acropolis Museum shows the surviving Caryatids and Parthenon sculptures, while the Ancient Agora marks the market square where Socrates questioned passers-by and the Temple of Hephaestus still stands almost whole. Wander Plaka and Anafiotika for whitewashed lanes, watch sunset from Lycabettus Hill, and finish in Psyrri or Koukaki over late-night meze.

The ancient Greeks called Delphi the navel of the world, the spot where two eagles sent by Zeus met. On the slopes of Mount Parnassus, the Pythia, Apollo's priestess, gave the oracles that guided kings and colonies for over a thousand years. Climb the Sacred Way past the rebuilt Athenian Treasury to the Temple of Apollo, the theatre and the high stadium of the Pythian Games. The museum holds the bronze Charioteer of Delphi, and just below lies the Tholos of Athena Pronaia, the round temple in an olive grove. Stay in the mountain village of Arachova for tavernas and views.

Santorini is the rim of a volcano that erupted around 1600 BC in one of history's largest blasts, leaving a flooded caldera ringed by 300-metre cliffs. That eruption buried Akrotiri, a Minoan-era town preserved under ash with multi-storey houses and swallow and boxer frescoes, often linked to the Atlantis myth. Today white villages like Oia and Fira cling to the cliff edge with blue-domed churches, while black and red sand beaches line the south. Hike the clifftop path from Fira to Oia, taste volcanic-soil Assyrtiko wines, and catch the famous sunset over the caldera.

Olympia was the sanctuary of Zeus where the ancient Olympic Games were held every four years from 776 BC until about AD 393. In a green valley where the Alfeios and Kladeos rivers meet, you walk through the stone tunnel into the original 192-metre stadium, past the Temple of Zeus that once held Phidias' gold-and-ivory statue, one of the Seven Wonders. The Olympic flame for every modern Games is still lit here at the Temple of Hera. The museum holds the Hermes of Praxiteles and the sculptures from the Temple of Zeus, and Phidias' own workshop still stands beside the site.

Mycenae was the hilltop citadel of Agamemnon in Homer's Iliad and the centre of the Bronze Age civilisation that gave its name to an era. Its Cyclopean walls are built of boulders so large later Greeks thought only giants could have moved them. You enter through the Lion Gate of about 1250 BC, the oldest monumental sculpture in Europe, and pass Grave Circle A, where Heinrich Schliemann found the gold 'Mask of Agamemnon' in 1876. Just below, the Treasury of Atreus is a vast beehive tomb with a corbelled dome unmatched for a thousand years. Nearby Nafplio makes a lovely base.

Aegina sits just over an hour by ferry from Athens and was once a sea power rival to Athens, minting some of the first coins in Europe, the silver 'turtles', around 600 BC. On a pine-covered ridge stands the Temple of Aphaia from about 500 BC, one of the best preserved Doric temples in Greece, which forms a near-perfect triangle with the Parthenon and Sounion. It was briefly the first capital of modern Greece in 1828. Explore the ghostly Byzantine hill town of Paleochora with dozens of small chapels, stroll the harbour of neoclassical houses, and taste the island's famous pistachios.

Delos is the tiny, sacred island where myth says Apollo and Artemis were born, and for centuries no one was allowed to be born or die there. It became the religious heart of the Aegean and later a booming free port of perhaps 30,000 people around 100 BC. Today the whole island is an open-air archaeological site reached by boat from Mykonos. Walk the Sacred Way to the Terrace of the Lions, see colourful floor mosaics in the House of Dionysus and House of the Dolphins, and climb Mount Kynthos for views across the Cyclades. No one stays overnight, so go early.

Patmos is the small island where John was exiled by the Romans around AD 95 and, by tradition, received the visions recorded in the Book of Revelation. You can visit the Cave of the Apocalypse, where the rock is said to be split by the voice of God, halfway up the hill. At the top, the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian, founded in 1088, looks like a fortress with battlements over the white hill town of Chora. Its treasury holds Byzantine icons and manuscripts. Both are UNESCO World Heritage. Below, quiet bays like Psili Ammos and Lambi give the island a peaceful, unhurried feel.

Corfu is the green, cypress-covered island many believe was Homer's Scheria, where Odysseus washed ashore and met Nausicaa. It was ruled by Venice for four centuries and never fell to the Ottomans, so its UNESCO-listed old town feels Italian, with arcaded streets, the Liston promenade and cricket played on the Spianada square. Two Venetian fortresses frame the town, and the Achilleion palace built for Empress Sisi in 1890 sits in the hills. Swim at the coves of Paleokastritsa, take a boat to Mouse Island, and taste dishes found nowhere else in Greece.