In 1571, Don John of Austria commanding the fleet of the Holy League, met the Ottoman Turks in the waters at the mouth of the Gulf of Patros. Here,where the Peleponnese meets the Morea, the basis of Western civilation had been laid thousands of years before in the city states of ancient Greece. When the smoke cleared after a hard fought naval engagement, thousands of men would be dead, the Turkish fleet broken and the Christian powers freed from the fear of the Mediterranean ever becoming a Muslim lake.

It was one of the most decisive battles in history.