Today's Sparta has the modern comforts of any small Greek town — restaurants and hotels — as well as several museums that celebrate the region's history and house contemporary art. The Coumantaros Art Gallery Sparta, located in the town center, is an outpost of Athens' National Gallery. The museum includes a gallery of European paintings and a permanent collection of modern Greek artists.
Transcending both recent and ancient history, the Archeological Museum of Sparta, built in the 1870s, is one of the earliest-known archeological museums in Greece (via The Travel). According to Lonely Planet, the museum contains ancient reliefs that may represent Queen Helen and King Menelaus. Additionally, one relief might also represent Helen and Paris.
The Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil traces the history of olives back to 50,000 years ago with fossilized olive leaves. The exhibits explore the connection between the olive and Greek history, identity, and mythology. Various olive oil presses dating back to the prehistoric, Hellenistic, and byzantine periods are on display. Along with hiking and outdoor activities in the nearby mountain ranges, the Caves of Diros are a day-trip distance from Sparta. The otherworldly caves full of stalactites and stalagmites have names like "The Hall of Apotheosis" and "Poseidon's Palace," writes Visit Greece. As Laconia becomes more accessible to outsiders, Sparta continues to develop its new identity as a modern destination.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunB9kHJpcmplZMSprdNmoKxlo6Wus8DAZqOio5ViwbCwwLJm