Modern MEGALÓPOLI (Megalopolis) is an important road and bus junction, and your first thoughts on arrival may be directed towards getting out. It's a rather characterless place, with a military presence and two vast power stations; there's little in the way of hotels or food. The adoption of its ancient name, "Great City", was an altogether empty joke.

 

However, the impulse to leave should be resisted, at least for an hour or two, because just outside the city to the northwest is one of the most extensive and least touristy sites in the Peloponnese: ancient Megalopolis .

Also worth a brief detour is the mountain village of Vástas , some 28km southwest of Megalópoli by indirect roads, on the flank of 1389-metre Mount Tetrázio. Below it is the small but remarkable Ayía Theódhora church, which is dwarfed by the seventeen large trees sprouting from the roof.