This half-day tour examines the final and decisive land battle of the Persian Wars. The tour blends rich history with peaceful rural scenery for a contemplative and stirring experience. It was here, in 479 BC, that the united Greek armies delivered the final blow against the Persian invaders. At the battlefield of Plataea, standing exactly on the ground where the action unfolded, our expert military advisors will reconstruct the battle for you in full detail - the dispositions of the Persian, the Spartan, Athenian and other Greek armies, the critical stages of the battle, the role of terrain, armour and tactics, revealing how discipline and leadership decided the outcome. You will hear how the last surviving Spartan from the Thermopylae 300 sacrificed himself and how the Persian commander was killed. Standing on the open plain of the battlefield you will feel the scale and significance of the Greek victory. The moment when an empire was stopped and the future of Europe secured.