Patras tour covers the port city of Patras on foot, with Patras Castle, the Roman Odeon, the Cathedral of Saint Andrew, Ano Poli, the Apollon Theatre, Psila Alonia square and the Carnival. The tour is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville, listed with the other Peloponnese tours.
This post covers what the tour is, the castle, the Roman Odeon, the cathedral, the Carnival, Ano Poli and the Agios Nikolaos steps, the Apollon Theatre, the square and port and the formats on sale. Common questions come last.
What is a Patras tour?
A Patras tour is a visit to the port city on the Gulf of Patras, where Roman, Byzantine and neoclassical monuments stand within one urban area. The core settlement has a history spanning four millennia, and the sections below follow its layers in turn.
A Patras tour covers a city whose core settlement has a history spanning four millennia. In antiquity Patras was a leading member of the Achaean League, and in the Roman period it became a cosmopolitan centre.
After the Battle of Actium, Augustus established a military colony of veterans from the 10th and 12th legions. The colony took the name Colonia Augusta Achaica Patrensis and gave colonists’ rights to the people of Rhypae and Dyme.
Roman rule brought privileges, new temples and two industrial zones. Streets were paved with flagstones, and workshops exported earthen oil lamps across the known world, so a Patras tour meets a former centre of crafts.
In Greek myth, Eumelus founded three townships called Aroe, Antheia and Mesatis. Their people were united by the worship of Artemis Triclaria at a shrine on the river Meilichus.
According to Christian tradition, Saint Andrew came to Patras to preach during the reign of Nero and was crucified there. He is the patron saint of the city.
- Mycenaean: The city flourished for the first time in the Mycenaean period.
- Byzantine: The scholar Arethas of Caesarea was born in Patras around 860.
- Modern: The present municipality formed in 2011 from five former municipalities.
- Area: The municipality covers 334.858 square kilometres.
Each layer has a stop that a Patras tour can reach, from the castle on the old acropolis to the port.
What does a Patras tour see at Patras Castle?
The Patras tour climbs to Patras Castle, a fortress with a triangular outer wall strengthened by towers and gates. It covers 22,725 square metres, rises on a low outlying hill of Mount Panachaiko and stands about 800 metres from the sea.
The first castle on the spot followed the catastrophic earthquake of 551. Its builders re-used material from pre-Christian structures, so a Patras tour reads the older city in the wall.
One re-used piece, the torso and head of a marble Roman statue, entered folklore as the Patrinella. Tradition holds that she weeps whenever a prominent citizen of Patras dies.
In the Byzantine period Slavs, Saracens, Normans and others besieged the fort, but it never fell. A great siege by Arabs and Slavs in 805 was repulsed, and the city credited Saint Andrew.
The Franks strengthened the castle and opened a moat on all three sides. In 1278 the Principality of Achaea pawned it to the Latin Archbishop, and Constantine Palaiologos later repaired its walls.
The fort stayed in constant use until the Second World War. In 1973 it passed to the Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, and a Patras tour now finds cultural events inside, especially in summer.
- Outer wall: The triangular wall carries towers and gates.
- Inner compound: It occupies the northeastern corner behind a moat of its own.
- Stage: A theatre inside the castle has a capacity of 640 seats.
- Garden: The interior serves as a public garden.
The Kalavryta tour post covers the town of Kalavryta and the formats that start there, for readers who join the castle to a longer route.
What does a Patras tour show at the Roman Odeon?
A Patras tour stops at the Roman Odeon, the principal ancient monument of the city. Ancient dramas are staged there in summer, and the streets around it keep a limit of two storeys, the only area of Patras with such a rule.
Roman Patras reached its period of greatest development in the 1st century AD, and the stone remains of that time lie close together near the Odeon, so a Patras tour reads them together.
The Roman Amphitheatre stands near the Odeon in Ifestou street. It dates from the 1st century AD, and only part of its area has been excavated, so the visible remains are partial.
A Roman aqueduct once led from the springs of Romanos to the acropolis. It measured 6.5 kilometres from the cistern to the castle, and for the greater part of that distance it ran through an underground channel.
Where the aqueduct crossed valleys and gorges it passed over carefully built archways, and parts of them still stand in the area of Aroi. Other Roman remains include a stadium and the city wall.
A preserved Roman bridge crosses the river Kallinaos. In the early twentieth century tram line 2 climbed Dimitriou Gounari Street, entered the Odeon and ended outside the Glarakis school.
- Drama: The Odeon hosts ancient dramas in the summer.
- Festival: The International Festival of Patras takes place every summer.
- Height: Construction around the Odeon is limited to two-storey buildings.
- Church: The church of Pantokrator, from 1832, stands in the same district.
The Odeon works as a theatre as well as a ruin. A Patras tour in the warm season can pair the visit with a performance.
Why does a Patras tour visit the Cathedral of Saint Andrew?
A Patras tour visits the Cathedral of Saint Andrew, a Byzantine-style basilica with a capacity of 7,000 people. Its ground floor covers 1,900 square metres, and a further 700 square metres lie on the upper level.
The architect Anastasios Metaxas supervised the early construction, and Georgios Nomikos followed him. The church stands in the west side of the city centre and is a place of pilgrimage.
A study by a professor of the University of Patras gives the church a length of about 60 metres and a width of about 52 metres. Wall paintings and mosaics decorate the interior.
Relics of the apostle are kept in a special shrine. They consist of the little finger, part of the top of the skull and small portions of the cross of his martyrdom.
The skull came from Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome in September 1964, on the orders of Pope Paul VI. Cardinal Bea led fifteen cardinals who presented it to Bishop Constantine of Patras.
After a procession through the streets the skull was placed in a silver miter. Parts of the cross, kept at Marseille since the Middle Ages, returned to Patras on 19 January 1980.
- Old church: The older and much smaller cathedral stands beside the current one.
- Architect: Lysandros Kaftanzoglou designed the old church.
- Reception: Thousands of people joined the ceremony for the skull.
- Dedication: Both churches honour the First-called Apostle of Christ.
Tradition places the crucifixion of the apostle on this ground, and a Patras tour treats the cathedral as a place of worship.
How does a Patras tour meet the Patras Carnival?
A Patras tour meets the carnival in the weeks from 17 January to Clean Monday, when the city stages the largest event of its kind in Greece. In 2019 about 750,000 participants were recorded across the events.
The carnival opens on the day of Saint Anthony. A town crier announces it with a satirical message, and the mayor declares the start from the first-floor balcony of the Apollon Theatre.
Groups of friends, colleagues or neighbours take a name and a costume theme. They compete in treasure hunt games with questions on history, philosophy and mathematics, and with clues hidden across the town.
A group has between 50 and 300 members. Other groups build a carnival float to match their theme, and a Patras tour in these weeks sees the offices and clubs that groups open.
The Saturday evening parade is called the Nihterini Podarati, the night parade on foot. Every group is now free to join, and the lights and the crowd fill the streets.
The Grand Parade runs on the Sunday before Clean Monday. Floats built by the municipality lead, and groups follow with between 35,000 and 40,000 participants. At the end the carnival king burns on a pier.
- Opening: The start is declared on 17 January, the nameday of Saint Anthony.
- Hunt: The treasure hunt mixes puzzles, navigation and artistic contests.
- Night parade: Groups walk the streets after dark.
- Closing: The burning brings concerts, dances and fireworks at the port.
The final weekend follows Clean Monday, so its date moves each year. A Patras tour built around the parades needs the carnival calendar first.
Where does a Patras tour climb in Ano Poli and the Agios Nikolaos steps?
A Patras tour climbs from the lower town to Ano Poli by broad outdoor stairs, among them the Agiou Nikolaou, Gerokostopoulou, Patreos and Trion Navarchon stairs. Ano Poli is the older upper district of the city around the fortress.
Ano Poli covers the area of the pre-modern settlement, around the fortress, on the last elevation of Mount Panachaikon before the Gulf of Patras. The lower town lies beside the sea.
Medieval buildings fell in the Greek War of Independence, so Patras is a newly built city. The oldest survivors, apart from ancient monuments and the castle, include the church of Pantokrator in Ano Poli.
Tzini’s house, built in 1832 at the corner of Agiou Nikolaou and Maisonos streets, is another early survivor. The church of Ayios Nikolaos, from 1885, stands next to the steps of Agiou Nikolaou street.
Near the castle stands the Old Patras Hospital, a neoclassical building by the architect Christian Hansen. The Glarakis school complex, built in stone in 1931, is now a bioclimatic school.
At the foot of the steps lies Trion Symmachon Square, named for the allied powers of the Battle of Navarino. A flower clock stands beside the pedestrian way to the seafront.
- Stairs: Four grand staircases divide the upper town from downtown.
- Square: The flower clock links the pedestrian way with the dock.
- Lighthouse: A replica of the old lighthouse rises at the end of Trion Navarchon street.
- Church: The replica stands near the temple of Saint Andrew.
The stairs join the old fortress district to the lower town. A Patras tour on foot uses them to move between the two.
Why does a Patras tour include the Apollon Theatre?
A Patras tour includes the Apollon Theatre, designed by the architect Ernst Ziller and completed in 1872. It is one of only four neoclassical theatres that survive in Greece, and it serves as the landmark stage of the city.
The theatre is a miniature of La Scala in Milan and is the oldest existing enclosed theatre of its era. Construction began on 11 February 1871, and the house opened on 10 October 1872.
Residents of Patras paid for the building. The main committee had Theodor Hamburger as president, and the sponsors included the mayor of the day, Georgios Roufos, the Triantis Brothers and Langouras.
The three other surviving neoclassical theatres stand in Tripoli, which opened in 1910, Syros, which opened in 1864, and Piraeus, which opened in 1895. A Patras tour sees the second oldest of the four.
The Patras Municipal and Regional Theatre was founded in June 1988 and uses the Apollon as its main stage. Its repertoire ranges from ancient drama and modern Greek plays to international works.
Ernst Ziller also designed the Perivolaropoulos mansion in Patras. Georgiou I Square, named after King George I, is the heart of the city, and its fountains were installed in 1875.
- Architect: Ernst Ziller was a German-born architect who became a Greek national.
- Style: The building shows the neoclassical style of the 19th century.
- Square: Georgiou I Square hosts political gatherings, rallies and cultural events.
- Carnival: The square also hosts the carnival.
The theatre and the square belong together, since events spill from the stage to the open space. A Patras tour passes both on the way to the harbour.
What does a Patras tour find at Psila Alonia square and the port?
A Patras tour ends at Psila Alonia square and the port, the city’s garden and its busy gateway. The square lies 1.5 kilometres from downtown beside Gounari Street, and the port handles more than half of the foreign sea passengers of Greece.
Psila Alonia has a fountain, sidewalks, palm trees and playgrounds, and shops, restaurants and cafes surround it. Trees and neoclassical buildings were added in the mid-to-late 19th century.
After the Second World War and the Civil War, the greater part of the neoclassical buildings gave way to eight-storey residential blocks. A cliff 15 metres tall at the west end overlooks Trion Navarchon Street.
The view from the cliff crosses the western Gulf of Patras to the mountains of Aitoloakarnania. The Nafpaktos tour post covers the walled harbour and the castle of Nafpaktos.
A new port opened in the southern section of the city in 2011, and the ferries to Italy now dock there. The change relieved the city centre of port operations.
Daily routes join the port to Corfu, Kefalonia and Igoumenitsa, and to the Italian cities Ancona, Bari, Brindisi, Trieste and Venice. A Patras tour ends where these routes begin.
- Square: It was completed in the mid-to-late 19th century.
- Cliff: Its west end is a 15-metre cliff above Trion Navarchon Street.
- Port: The new port opened in 2011 in the southern section.
- Spinney: A pine-covered hill called the Spinney offers a panorama of the gulf.
The harbour explains why the city is called the Gate to the West. A Patras tour closes there with a view of the ferries.
Which Patras tour formats are on sale?
The Patras tour formats on sale are five: a full-day trip to Ancient Olympia, a city tour with optional visits and wine tasting, a private Patras tour with the Saint Andrew church from Katakolo, and two private transfers between Athens and the port.
The Ancient Olympia listing is a full-day tour that starts from Patras. It suits readers who treat the city as a base for the sanctuary of the Games.
The city tour with optional visits and wine tasting covers the sights above in one programme. The tasting fits a city where the local specialities include Mavrodafni wine and the Tentura drink.
The Katakolo listing is a private Patras tour that includes the Saint Andrew church, the church that holds the relics of the apostle. Tradition places the crucifixion of the apostle on that ground.
Two listings are private transfers. One runs from the port of Patras to Athens, and the other runs from Athens to the port. The Olympia Odos motorway between them is a closed road of 220 kilometres.
Each transfer suits a Patras tour that ends at the quay, since the new port lies in the southern section of the city and the ferries to Italy dock there.
- Olympia: A full-day trip from Patras to the ancient sanctuary.
- City tour: A walk with optional visits and a wine tasting.
- Katakolo: A private tour with the church of Saint Andrew.
- Transfers: Two private rides between the port of Patras and Athens.
The Ancient Olympia tour post covers the sanctuary itself. The tour cards and availability boxes on this page list live dates for every Patras tour format.
What do travellers ask about Patras tour planning?
A Patras tour raises four common questions, which are about the carnival, the main landmarks, the church of Saint Andrew and the port. The answers below draw on the sections above and keep to facts recorded for the city.
Does a Patras tour include the Patras Carnival?
Only in the carnival weeks. The events begin on 17 January and last until Clean Monday, so a Patras tour on those dates meets the treasure hunt, the night parade and the Grand Parade. Outside those weeks the carnival is not on.
Which landmarks does a Patras tour cover?
A Patras tour covers Patras Castle, the Roman Odeon, the Cathedral of Saint Andrew, the Apollon Theatre of 1872, Psila Alonia square and the port. The Ano Poli stairs link the old upper district with the lower town, and the Spinney offers a panorama of the gulf.
What does a Patras tour show of Saint Andrew?
A Patras tour shows the cathedral and the older church beside it. The cathedral keeps relics in a shrine, among them the little finger and part of the skull. Tradition places the crucifixion of the apostle on this ground, and both churches honour him.
Can a Patras tour connect with the port?
Yes. The port handles more than half of the foreign sea passengers of Greece. Ferries to Italy dock at the new port opened in 2011, and daily routes serve Corfu, Kefalonia and Igoumenitsa, which suits a Patras tour that begins or ends at the quay.
Featured photo: Falk2, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.