Arkadian Mountain Roads (Stemnitsa Circuit)

The Arkadian plateau in the central Peloponnese is Greece's most complete mountain cycling environment: a high limestone plateau averaging 1,000m with stone-built medieval villages, Byzantine churches, walnut and chestnut forests, and roads that carry an average of perhaps three vehicles per hour on weekdays. The Stemnitsa circuit — departing from Dimitsana (1,000m) and completing a loop through Stemnitsa (1,090m), the Lousios Gorge viewpoints, and the ancient monastery of Prodromos — accumulates 1,050m of climbing on a mix of well-surfaced and rough secondary roads. The landscape is unlike any other in Greece: fully continental rather than Mediterranean, with cold clear springs, mountain weather that can surprise in spring, and a sense of Arcadia that is entirely authentic. Stemnitsa itself produces Greece's finest goldsmith work and has a jewellery school — a café stop between riding legs.