Greece's Carnival Capital — the wildest festival in the Balkans, the Peloponnese wine country at the city's door, the port that links Greece to Italy, and a Byzantine castle above the harbour
Patras is Greece's third-largest city and the gateway between Greece and Italy — the port where ferries cross the Adriatic to Brindisi, Bari, and Ancona have been running for over a century. It is best known internationally for hosting Greece's largest Carnival — three weeks of masquerade balls, float parades, and street parties beginning in January that attract over a million visitors each year, making it one of the three great carnivals of southern Europe alongside Venice and Rio de Janeiro. The Achaean wine country begins at the city's edge: the Muscat of Patras PDO and Mavrodaphne of Patr…
Patras was one of the most important cities of ancient Achaia — the region that gave its name to the Achaean League, the confederation of Greek city-states that resisted Roman expansion until its defeat and destruction in 146 BCE (the same year Rome destroyed Carthage). Julius Caesar established a Roman colony here in 14 BCE and renamed it Colonia Augusta Aroe Patrensis, building the theatre, agora, and infrastructure visible in today's Roman Odeum. According to Christian tradition, the Apostle Andrew was martyred here by crucifixion on an X-shaped cross (the saltire, which became the Scottis…