Kardamyli

 5. Kardamyli

I first knew of Kardamyli when it was a setting for the 2013 film, Before Midnight.  What first made my eyes widen was the beautiful stone house and shady terrace in some of film's best scenes. I discovered that the set was the actual home of the British travel writer, and war veteran, Patrick Leigh Fermor, and photographer Joan Leigh Fermor, who built the house in the 1950s and lived there for the next 50 years.

It was a easy choice to include Kardamyli in our Peloponnese itinerary.  The drive from the Mani peninsula to Kardamyli in west Mani, took us through dozens of mountain villages - every one looked like they would be worthy of a stay and an explore - and more spectacular views as we descended from the mountain to the sea.

Kardamyli is smaller than we anticipated, just one main street really - port at one end, shady village square at the other, and lovely boutiques, cafes and shops in between, and not a tourist shop in sight.

We stayed in a small family run hotel above Kalamatsi beach, just 3 days to enjoy a few of the local tavernas (Diskouri on the hill, and OPsaras on the sea were both delightful), the relaxed village atmosphere, swim and explore this "indescribably picturesque" village that we'd love to return to one day.

Descending from the mountain drive
and looking down on to Kardamyli.

We stayed at beautiful Kalamitsi Beach,
fringed with fabulous cypress pencil pines. 

Kardamyli - so pretty at every turn.

Kardamyli's charming main street.

A coffee stop for my Huckleberry friend,
and some (masked) Kardamyli locals
playing tavli in a shady spot in the park
 - we saw them there each day.

Patrick & Joan Leigh Fermor's home 
above Kalamitsi beach in Kardamyli 
was bequeathed to the Benaki Museum.
Here is a glimpse of the beautiful local
stone work and the exquisite pebble
paving at the entrance way.

Just a short walk through the olive groves
past the Leigh Fermor home to the
beautiful beach of Kalamitsi.

From the terrace of Dioskouri Taverna,
Kardamyli, overlooking the little port.
Dinner was delicious.

Kalamitsi beach - more perfect water
to swim in and cool off.

The Olive Shop, Kardamyli.
Our favourite!

Kardamyli pavement art.

Kalamitsi beach - no crowds, just a 
crescent of crystal clear aquamarine.

Ancient Olympia

4. Ancient Olympia 

There are many archaeological sites throughout the Peloponnese, it is possibly the richest historical region in all of Greece, and consequently it can be difficult to choose which sites to visit.  It's thrilling to stumble upon a ruin or a site that we've never heard of, but there were also a few well-known archaeological sites that we had definitely planned to explore, and Ancient Olympia was one of them.  An easy two and a half hour drive north of Kardamyli, in a green valley, is the Sanctuary of Ancient Olympia. It's called a sanctuary because primarily it was the place of worship dedicated to Zeus, the Greek god of the sky - the father of all gods. It is also the birthplace of the Olympic Games which were held here every four years from 776BC to 393AD.  The Games began as a way to honour the gods, and of course have changed just a little over the years; back in the BC and early AD days participating athletes had to be Greek, male and had to compete nude!

It is a vast site, mostly ruins, pedestals, columns - some still standing and many lying as they fell - and remains of buildings all scattered among shady olive trees. The sacred part of the site is where there are the remains of the Temple of Zeus and the Temple of Hera.  We walked along the length of the gymnasium and to the Palestra, the wrestling school where dozens of Doric column still stand, and to Pheidias's workshop where one of the seven wonders of the ancient world was created - the monumental 13m gold and ivory statue of Zeus that once stood in the centre of the Temple.

There are also two museums within the site.  We visited the Archaeological Museum of Olympia that houses the best preserved artefacts and statues from the entire site of Ancient Olympia.  A museum was first built at Ancient Olympia in the late 1800s and at that time it was the very first Greek museum outside Athens.  The new museum is a modern low white marble building with large, cool galleries containing the most impressive collections of ancient sculptures and bronze and terracotta artefacts.

We loved visiting Ancient Olympia, we went in the afternoon and there were very people.  Wandering through the remains of where the Olympic movement began and still continues to this day was amazing.

We chose not to run our own 100m race at the original Olympic stadium - it was 42° that summer afternoon we visited Ancient Olympia!

Wandering around the ancient stones

The Temple of Zeus

The pedestals that once held the 
ancient statues

Incredible classical Greek sculptures
that were once the pediments of the 
Temple of Zeus and now line both
sides of the Museum's vast main gallery.
Utterly spectacular.

Nike of Paeonios
The winged goddess of victory 
~425 BC

42° in the shade but we loved it!

 

Deep Mani

 3. Yerolimenas

After leaving Limeni we headed back up the mountain to the village of Aeropolis - the capital of the Mani, named after Ares the Greek god of war.  It is a busy traditional town servicing the surrounding mountain villages. It is also a very pretty town, the main square lined with cafes and tavernas, and the alleyways with colourful doors some adorned with wreaths of dried flowers.  We stayed long enough for a stroll, a coffee and for Paul to buy his straw summer hat - beautiful quality, only €10, what a bargain. At the bakery we stocked up on tsai tou vounou - mountain tea from the Teygetus - and some Greek almond biscuit delicacies and we headed south to explore what is called the deep Mani.  Such an evocative name for the southern-most part of this beautiful peninsula of the Peloponnese.

As the green groves of olives, pine and fir trees gave way to a more sparse landscape of low, stunted olives, rocks and pencil pines, we came across the main attraction of the coast, the Caves of Drios where boatmen carry hundreds of tourists a day through great stalactite and stalagmite caves of crystal formations.  But we're heading ever further south, more remote, through the stone-tower villages of Kitta and Neomi.  From a distance the stone towers of the villages loom like San Gimignano or Montepulciano in Tuscany, they seem quiet, almost deserted in the sizzling heat of the midday sun, but these villages of the deep Mani have a history of long and violent family feuds, a place of pirates and where people came to hide away.  Even the mountains, the Kakovoulia, are called the Bad Mountains!

Before leaving home I tracked down a 40 year old copy of Patrick Leigh Fermor's 1958 book Mani: Travels in the Peloponnese.  It's a fantastic read, part travelogue, part history book, and part a study of the culture of the Maniot people.  Full of details of the the trek he took to explore the Mani in the 1950s and the people he met.  It brings to life this mysterious and isolated region

By mid-afternoon we arrived at our destination, the fishing village of Yerolimenas at the southern-most tip of the Mani.  The sun was scorching and we were delighted to see that our accommodation, the beautifully restored stone Kyrimi Inn, perched on the rocks was just steps from the sea front, and overlooking the impressive cliffs of this tiny village.  Oh how refreshing was that sweet clear emerald water!

White stone beaches of the deep Mani

Best Greek breakfast - yoghurt, honey,
nuts, fruit, mountain tea 

 The small fishing village of Yerolimenas
and its crystal clear water

Meszapos Beach spectacularly set 
between two high sea cliffs

From the Teygetus mountains to the sea

Like a treasure trove of local produce

Greeks are rightly very proud of their
mountain honey - méli. It's delicious.

A treat to stop of these mountain roadside
bakeries that sell all the local produce -
olives, oil, honey, tea, herbs

Stepping from the rocks into the
sea at the Kyrimi Inn, Yerolimenas

The sheer rugged cliffs of Yerolimenas

Maniot towers both ruined, and restored,
can be seen all through the landscape

These towers were once fortresses
during the long clan feuds that went
well into the 19th century.

We seem to fall in love with all the 
fishing villages!

Such a beautiful area and so few tourists,
mostly Greek tourists.

Kitta with its Maniot towers called pyrgoi

It's one of the oldest villages and its 

history is said to span back to the 

time of Homer's Illiad.

The Mani

2. The Mani Peninsula

In the past decade we have travelled over much of Greece and its islands however we had never been to the Peloponnese.  I was fascinated by one particular area of the Peloponnese - the middle peninsula that reaches into the Messenian Gulf, The Mani.

As we drive through the Peloponnese the majestic Teygetus mountains look unscalable and sheer, like a barrier through the middle of the Mani. If I strain my eyes I can see impossibly high zig-zagging roads, an isolated monastery. The never ending green of the olive groves then turns to a hazy purple before the pale grey rocks of the peaks.  

After a dizzying descent down switchbacks we arrive - the stone houses and towers and castle ruins of the traditional fishing village of Limeni and the turquoise and blue water of the Bay of Oitylon are before us.  A few fishing caiques are anchored in the bay, together with a few impressive modern yachts.  It's a stunning sight.

The afternoon sunset softened the sizzling day and we ate dinner on the stone terrace of our apartment, totally mesmerised by the view and the location.

We enjoyed three nights in this heaven.  Breakfasts on the terrace in the cool shadow of the tower, sipping tsai tou vounou - mountain tea from the Teygetus - and the water lapping below us.  Swimming and snorkeling three times a day,  more dreamy sunsets at the perfect location of Kourmas taverna, and evening strolls around the village admiring the old stone buildings, the bougainvillea and enjoying the lack of summer crowds in this more remote part of mainland Greece.

Maybe we should spend our entire six weeks' holiday here? 

The Mani peninsula is made up of outer Mani
(the northern part of the peninsula) and the wild,
rugged and remote south, or deep Mani.

Arriving in the Mani - down, down, down
the mountains, narrow roads, hairpin bends
and spectacular views to pretty coastal
villages.  This is Apollo - our tiny Fiat
Panda - he's tiny but mighty taking us
all over the Peloponnese. 

This is part of the stunning view from
just one of the windows of our
apartment, in a restored 17th century
stone tower, in the tiny fishing village
of Limeni.

 

Just a handful of stone buildings and 
tavenas, not a postcard or tourist shop
in sight.  And that heavenly clear, 
turquoise water!

Compact apartment but with windows
all around to drink in those views and 
catch any breeze.  We loved it.

Another window, another vista.

Just a few carved steps down into the
glorious water, complete with turtles!

Daily temperatures are milder here, down
to 34° but so easy to keep cool in this water.
and in our stone tower with its thick walls.

One of the best part of our Mani
travels is the absence of crowds.

First frappe of the summer -
first coffee in 4ish years.

Every wild fig tree is bursting with 
young fruit - another few weeks and
we'll be eating figs every day, straight
from the trees and warmed by the
sun - delicious.

In the north east of the Mani, at Gytheio,
on the foothills is this ancient marble theatre,
1st century AD.  It's always such a thrill
to stumble upon ancient ruins.  

 

2022 - The Greek Summer

1. Peloponessos

The Peloponnese is a region of southern Greece. The beginning of the Peloponnese is just an easy hour an a half drive from Athens along a modern motorway, past Pireaus, around the Saronic Gulf and over the Corinth Canal.  

Geographically the Peloponnese is shaped a little like a hand with four 'fingers' or peninsulas pointing south into the Argolic Gulf, the Laconian Gulf or the Messenian Gulf.

Our first stay was the charming and romantic coastal town of Napflion - the first capital of modern Greece, that is the 'new' Greece after the war of independence against the Ottoman Empire.  As well as a cobblestoned old town, a beautiful sea front, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman architecture, and a pretty square full of  tavernas, Napflio has the colossal Fortress of Palamidi high on a mountain overlooking the town. 

Every day is an explosive 38ºc - quite the start to our Greek summer!

Pretty Napflion

Seafront tavernas

Little squares at every turn

A peak at the bastion walls high
up on The Fortress of Palamidi

Looking forward to the first
pitta gyros of the summer - in Greece
they're small and filled with delicious
meat and salad with yoghurt or tzatziki.
only €3 and utterly delicious!

From our apartment the illuminated
Fortress of Palamidi