Tripoli is a place of natural contrasts. Because of its situation, it can satisfy the desires of the most demanding visitor, offering him enchanting landscapes and resorts, winter and summer, with combinations of mountain and sea.
It appears in history at about the middle of the 15th c. Built in a harsh, rocky environment in the plain of Mantineia, in the most advantageous location in the centre of the Morea, it holds countless surprises for the visitor.
It is the capital of Arkadia: the Arkadia about which all who have the good fortune to know it quote Goethe's famous phrase: "I too have dwelt in Arcady". Arkadia, whose dreamlike nature is an attraction and a quest for inspiration for many artists.
At the heart of the town is Areos Square with the bust of Kolokotronis. It is surrounded by the Courts of justice, the old Hotel
Mainalon and the lovely park with its hospitable Chalets. The splendid Cultural Centre of the Municipality of Tripoli stands in the West Park. Prominent monuments include the Malliaropouleio Theatre, the Church of
Ag. Vasileios, which is unusual in having shops on the groundfloor, the Archaeological Museum, one of the finest in Greece, housed in a building designed by Ziller, the houses of the poet K. Kariotakis and of Th. Synodinou and numerous neo-classical buildings.
In the environs of the town the visitor will find lovely little churches (Ay. Georgios, Mai Thanasakos, Ai Yannis, Kartsova, etc.), clinging to the green hillsides, and the picturesque monasteries of Epano Chrepa, Varsoi and
Gorgoepikoos. Ancient Mantineia with its theatre and singular Sacred Church of Ayia Fotini is another attraction, like Alea and Episcopi at
Tegea.
Tripoli, situated in the centre of the Prefecture of Arkadia and the Peloponnese, is well placed for nearby excursions (Vytina, Dimitsana, Stemnitsa, Langadia, Astros-Herodes' Villa, Karytaina, Megalopoli, etc.) and more distant ones (Nafplio, Mycenae,
Epidavros, Sparta, Mystras, Olympia, Kalamata, etc.). The sea at Astros with its fine, clean beaches can be reached in less than an hour.
On the highest part of the mountain on 1981 m altitude is the ski centre of Ostrakina.
In the centre of the town stands a neo classical building of 1910 that houses the theatre. The house of the poet Kostas Karyotakis is also there and the archaeological museum both neo classical buildings.
It is worth to visit the town in many different times of the year like the carnival, or during Easter Sunday when the Municipality of the town organises a whole fist with the traditional lamb offered to everybody with local wine, escorted from traditional dances until late in the evening.
Kariotakis spent most of his lonely childhood in Crete. He studied law at Athens and won a prize for poetry in 1920. After obtaining his degree he worked as a government clerk in Athens, where he developed a friendship with the young poet Maria Polidouri. Later he was transferred to Patra and then to Preveza, where he shot himself (July 20, 1928).
