A few years ago National Geographic produced a glossy coffee-table album devoted to “the world’s 400 best travel experiences.” In it, besides Athens and the islands, Greece had a third entry: Messinia in the southwest Peloponnese. The selection of this fertile, gentle region over more renowned spots on the Classical tour like Delphi, Olympia and the Argolid might seem unorthodox until you give it a closer look. In fact, it possesses just about everything a traveler could wish for: Beaches, including one that makes all the Top 10 lists; an award-winning luxury resort; a string of mountain lakes; a bird-watcher’s haven; succulent fruits and vegetables; and a monument or memory from almost every period of Greek history, from Homer’s time to our own.

The second, far noisier, far quicker battle was to prove crucial in the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Turks. Instead of the few yachts, fishing caiques and a tramp steamer or two that you see now, the bay was chockablock with three-masters and smaller ships belonging to the combined navies of England, France and Russia facing the Turkish-Egyptian fleet. The Great Powers had simply sailed in one fine October day in 1827 to scare the Muslims out of the Peloponnese. They hadn’t intended to get involved themselves, but as they repeated their demand for Ottoman withdrawal, a nervous Turkish recruit fired a few shots, and the combined cannon of the Great Powers thundered back. By dusk they had sunk 53 ships and 6,000 sailors had gone down with them. In contrast, not a single allied ship was lost and only 174 men had died.

Although the Sultan did not grant Greece independence until 1829, the defeat at Navarino certainly hastened it. In the town itself, the only reminder of the famous sea battle is a memorial to the three admirals who won it in the square named after them. And the only remnant of the Turkish presence is the gray castle that still looms above the red-roofed houses on the slope and the fish tavernas on the waterfront. It’s called Niokastro to distinguish it from the ancient foundations of Palaiokastro, across the bay.

Rebuilt by Frankish Crusaders after the conquest of Constantinople in 1204, it surveys one of the most important habitats for wild birds in Greece, Gialova Lagoon, where some 270 species have been counted.

For two of Greece’s most spectacular castles, go to the end of the peninsula, Methoni on the Ionian side, Koroni on the Gulf of Messinia. Built by the Venetians, they were dubbed “the chief eyes of the Serene Republic.” From them, she could control all traffic entering the Ionian/Adriatic. The two could not be more different.

Imposing Koroni rises almost seamlessly from the coastal rocks, but is surprisingly cozy inside its walls, where you’ll find a humble con- vent with churches and a cemetery plus a few medieval-looking houses. Outside its precincts a lively town is clustered, with whitewashed alleys to wander in and tavernas and cafes to retire to after a swim on its pleasant beach.

The summer village of Methoni preceding its castle is hard to imagine as the “important half-way house between Venice and the Holy Land, at which every traveler stopped on his way to the east.” But its fortress, straddling a wild and weedy peninsula of its own, is a fine example of Venetian military architecture, with elegant towers, massive gray walls, a wide moat bridged by an arched causeway, and at its end, a perfect miniature, the octagonal Bourtzi, an islet of itself. They make an unusual backdrop for a swim from the golden beach there.

Finally, there’s a present-day “castle” – the world-class luxury resort Costa Navarino, which opened in 2010. There you can play guilt-free golf knowing that the courses are watered ecologically, dine on excellent local products and inspect the special interactive exhibits on Messinian wildlife. With all these landmarks, manmade and natural, Messinia really does deserve to be the next “in” destination in Greece.