We begin the day with a boat ride across the calm waters of Navarino Bay to Sphacteria, the long, narrow and uninhabited island guarding the entrance to the harbour. We hike to the highest point of the island, we shift back nearly two and a half millennia to one of the most shocking episodes of the Peloponnesian War. Here, in 425 BC, a force of Spartan hoplites became isolated on the island after Athenian naval manoeuvres trapped them. After a tense siege and relentless skirmishing across the rocky slopes of Sphacteria, the unthinkable occurred: surrounded, exhausted and cut off from relief, the Spartan hoplites surrendered. It was the only known occasion in history where a Spartan hoplite force laid down its arms in battle. You will walk the very ground where this happened. From the crest of the hillside, the panoramic view is absolutely breathtaking, stretching across the entire bay of Navarino and beyond. On our way back we visit the various monuments across the Navarino Bay.

Returning to Pylos, overlooking the bay, we conduct a detailed battlefield analysis of one of the most consequential naval engagements of the 19th century: the Battle of Navarino. In October 1827, the combined fleets of Britain, France and Russia entered the bay in a tense standoff that rapidly escalated into full-scale combat. Within hours, the bay became an inferno of cannon fire and shattered masts. By the end of the day, the Ottoman – Egyptian fleet was destroyed and the survival of the Greek War of Independence effectively secured.