The Mani and Peloponnese

We are loving Greece. We’ve had an interesting time in northern Greece and Delphi, and are now headed to the Corinth Canal and the Peloponnese.
Corinth Canal to the Peloponnese

The Canal is a 6.4 km long cutting in the Isthmus of Corinth, built to allow ships to travel between the Gulf of Corinth and the Aegean Sea. Although commenced in Nero's time it was not completed and used until 1893. These days, it’s mainly used for cruise ships and tourism, due to its narrow width.

We walked onto the bridge to view the depth of the Canal; it’s an amazing piece of engineering. We were amused to see that they now do bungy jumping off the bridge – quite a departure from Nero’s original vision!

Looking hot at the ruins of Mycenae in the Peloponnese
We then drove across the Corinth Canal into the Peloponnese, a mountainous peninsular that juts into the Mediterranean Sea at the southern tip of mainland Greece.

Heading south-west, a highlight was visiting the Acropolis of Mycenae. In the second millennium BC, Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilization. We walked through the ruins in the awful heat, but it was fascinating.

We saw the Lion Gate, the earliest known piece of monumental sculpture in the European continent, and the impressive museum.

We had nice simple lunch of bread, cheese and tomatoes in the shade of an ancient olive tree. It is getting hotter as we travel further south – consistently in the mid 30’s.

Marg in Napflion
Our next stop was Napflion, a charming seaside town built around the base of the amazing Palamide Fortress. 

The main platia (square) is paved in marble and surrounded by beautifully maintained historic buildings. There are lots of stone steps that link together, which are actually side streets filled with interesting shops. We thought it was one of the prettier towns we had seen.

We found Kastraki Beach Camp in the small ancient town of Asini, just outside Nafplion village, and stopped for a few nights. We parked right on the beach-front, in the shade of some lovely trees. While the location was fantastic, the facilities left a lot to be desired. Luckily, we are self-contained in our motorhome, Vanni.

Ruins of ancient Sparta
Leaving there and still driving south deep into the Peloponnese, we arrived in Sparta to visit the ancient ruins. It was an amazing place, and the structures are still being uncovered. 

We walked through the digs seeing the Statue of Leonidas, the Acropolis, the Temple of Artemis and other ruins.

We were now getting down into the Mani, the middle peninsular of the southern Peloponnese, and an amazing and very distinctive part of Greece. 

This rocky peninsular is loaded with history, and notoriously difficult to access. There are lots of winding roads around the Peloponnese Mountains, and the coast.

Into the Mani
Our main stop there was Gythion which is a lovely fisherman’s village. It is quaint, and a working village without pretence or without being too touristy. We liked it, and liked the campsite too, Gythion Beach Camp. It was quite dusty, but Leigh felt right at home as we parked in the shade of an Australian ghost gum tree.

We tried to hire a motorcycle there, as we had heard that the roads around the Mani were very narrow; too narrow for our big motorhome. However, the bike guy (Mykie) was never open.

Gythion harbour
In the end we hired a little Hyundai Getz car from the travel agent in the township. The agent was lovely and very helpful. She also booked ferry tickets that we needed later in our trip. 

This small car was fantastic around the tiny streets and villages. It also had air conditioning which was essential in the stifling 37 degree heat.

Using the small car, we drove from Gythion to Areopoli, a small historic town that marks the beginning of the “deep Mani”, one of the best drives in Greece, we’d heard.

The Cave of Diros, The Mani
We drove anti-clockwise from Areopoli, to Haria, a little village where we bought some fresh vegies and local olives at their small market.

An absolute highlight was going to the nearby Diros Caves on the western shores of the Laconia peninsula in the Diros Bay. 

The cave ranks as one of the world's three most beautiful lake caves (others are in Beirut and France).

To view the cave, we boarded a flat-bottomed boat holding six people and a guide. 

The caves were absolutely fascinating – interesting rock formations, crystal clear water, and old, old stalactites and stalagmites. It was very, very quiet and eerie, and quite beautiful.
Lunch in Gerolimenas, the Mani

Leaving Diros, we came to Mazapos, a small fishing port with an interesting beach between two high sea cliffs. The water was so clear.

Onwards, through more tiny villages, and we arrived in Gerolimenas, a gorgeous, and quaint fishing village. 

We stopped for a break there, and had a wonderful lunch of local ‘bug’ (like Morton Bay bug in Queensland only twice the size), horiatiki salata (Greek salad), and fried cheese with local dry white wine – really fantastic.

Unique tower houses of Vathia on the Mani
Feeling pretty good after lunch, we drove on, heading deeper into the Mani. 

We rounded some bends and, on the hills, we could see some interesting stone structures. These were the unique tower houses that dot the Mani, and we were looking at them in Alika, and nearby Vathia.

The tower houses are fortified houses that were built originally to protect the families from feuding neighbours. 

We went off the beaten track several times and found lovely small villages in the mountains and beachside, all with buildings made of the dramatic beautiful grey/pink local stone, and many in the tower style.
Kokkinogia, southern-most tip of mainland Greece

We soon arrived in Kokkinogia, also known as Poseidon’s resting place, at the southern-most tip of the Mani and of the Greek mainland. We stopped to have a look at the water view - the water was as blue and clear that we had seen anywhere – amazing.

There was no shade and the temperature was scorchingly hot. Getting back into the car and the air-conditioning, we wound our way over the mountains to the other side of the Mani, heading northward now.

We had a close call on one of the tiny mountain roads, where we came around the corner and almost ran into two giant bulls that were sitting on the road. They were as big as the car! We very carefully drove around them.
Areopoli in the deep Mani

On we went, through Porto Kagio, a little fishing village set in a tightly curved bay and with fabulously blue clear water; Kokkala, with its pebbled beach, and Kotronas, where we crossed back to Areopoli.

We decided to spend a little more time in Areopoli, as we kind of whizzed through it on our way south. It is such a lovely town. We walked its cobbled streets, visited the 17th century church of Taxiarches which has some lovely frescoes, and saw the Piloulakis Tower which is a 3-story tower house.

After that, we returned the hire car to Gythion. We decided it had been a great investment, because we were able to see small villages and spectacular scenery, that we never would have seen in our big campervan.
Ancient Olympia

We loved the Mani but we had to move on. So after a few days, we drove across the peninsular to Kalamata (famous for its olives), where we had a nice lunch at the waterfront.

Our next stop was ancient Olympia. The Greeks held their Olympics here in ancient times and the Olympic flame is lit here for every one of the modern games.

We spent a couple of very hot hours exploring the ruins of Olympia and its museum. We stayed at Camping Diana (we thought of our friend Di, also known as Lady Merlot!). The camp is within easy walking distance of the all historic sites. It has a great little swimming pool, and in this heat, you never did see two women get into a pool so quickly after arriving!

We enjoyed it so much, we decided to stay an extra night, instead of rushing on in the heat to Athens, our next stop. 

This blog describes part of our 7 month motorhome trip around central and southern Europe, which began in Germany in April.