It's not often that three short letters at 5:45 a.m. ruin all the best laid plans for the day. I was standing in the bus terminal of Pyrgos and had just bought my ticket to Figaleia. Based on Stanislaw's comments I had planned to catch the bus to Figaleia, get off at Perivolia and hike up to Bassae and down to Andritsena. A good day's hike (25km with luggage), but manageable. Those plans were ruined due to three little letters: Nea.

As mentioned in other reviews by me, whenever you see Archaia or Nea in front of a town name be very wary. It means that the new town is so far apart that they decided to denote it with New/Old. In the case of Figaleia, the distance is 23km between the two towns. With it my hiking plan became obsolete.

On arrival in Nea Figaleia, I tried to get a cab. There is one cabbie in town, but he was available only in 3h. So, I wandered briefly through town (they have an old Byzantine monastery) and eventually settled in a cafe at the town square waiting for him. Eventually, he came, drove me to Bassae, waited for me and then dropped me off at Andritsana. Pooh. In Anditsana, again, I spent hours in a cafe on the town square waiting for the bus back to Athens.

The actual visit of Bassae was in comparison to all the time spent on town squares drinking coffee short. The site is quite small to begin with, and with the temple covered in a protective tent (which you can enter), there just aren't many views or photos to be taken. There also isn't an onsite museum, so no finds are on display to provide more context. To see some of the finds you would have to enter the storage facilities of the British Museum as they aren't even on display in London all of the time.

In sum, it's hard to appreciate the OUV of the site as is. I can only trust the judgements on experts how important Bassae is for Greek architecture. It is easy though to appreciate the villages and landscapes around Bassae. And maybe the Greeks can talk to the Maltese who have figured out how to build a protective tent for ancient sites.

Getting There

Getting to Bassae by car is recommended and by far the best option as it is the hardest WHS to get to in Greece. If you are driving to Olympia and coming from Mystras, simply skip the highway and take the scenic route with Bassae as a stop. While the site itself may be hard to appreciate, the views along the way are nice.

If you don't have a car and you want to make the trip by public transport means, you need to be one of the following people to justify the effort:

1. WHS Enthusiast -> Obviously, can't let a site go unticked.
2. Greek History or Architecture Enthusiast -> You are really interested in Bassae and it's significance and you can keep all the column types and counts apart.

With that clarified, now how to get there. Options are:

• Nea Figaleia from Pyrgos and arrange cab there (contact is on google maps). Cost should be around 60€ including 30min waiting and drop off at either Figaleia or Andritsena.
• Busses to Andritsena run daily to/from Athens, Isthmus, Tripoli, Megalopoli and end on the coast at Zaxa. Zaxa could be an option coming from Olympia/Pyrgos. From Andritsena, it's a steep climb uphill or you try to catch a cab. There also seem to be a Friday bus to Andritsena from Pyrgos.
• Get a cab in Pyrgos (100€) or Megalopolis doing the roundtrip. In Megalopolis you will also have the option of the visiting another amphitheatre (T).