Trips throughout Greece

Athens - Pireaus - Cape Sounion - Poros - Santorini - Zakynthos - Rhodes - Mikonos - Delos - Corinth - Theater of Epidauro - Nafplio - Mycenae - Delphi - Arahova - Ioannina - Vikos Gorges - Meteora - Messenia and Peloponnesus

We desired to visit the Peloponnesus for a weekend, but any zone far away from Athens , at the south. We thought about Messenia , that offered us the chance to select either landscapes ( gulf of Messenia ) or ruins (Mystras). The bus trip from Athens is long, approximately 5 h., although it is not so boring because the bus drives among the beautiful and mountainous region of Peloponnesus . They are not impressive mountain masses like in Central Greece , but huge hills following one another, never-ending. The bus crosses Sparta , the city that belonged to the Menelaus kingdom (Menelaus was brother of Agamemnon and husband of the beautiful Helen), an also the city that defeated Athens during the Peloponnesus war (from 431 to 404 B.C.). However Sparta didn't make use of the victory. Most of the Greek towns were injured after the war and therefore some years later they couldn't detain the energy of the Macedonians Philip II and Alexander the Great.

We arrived in the hotel previously booked. The next day we hired a car and even we dared to bargain the price, because it was low season. We decided to drive towards the Messenia 's gulf and leave Mystras for the next day. We had read that this site is very interesting and the environment is magnificent but, as the weather threatened to be bad on next day, we preferred firstly the landscapes and nature.

It is a lovely road that circulates between the sea and the Taigeto Mountains. It gives superb views of the seaboard, the gulf, the empty sea and the mountains.

At any bend it suddenly appeared in front of us a solitary and colourful creek of crystalline water. The villages rest isolated nearby the road. They have stone houses and churches as well as an enviable tranquillity. The road is narrow and you have to drive slowly.

We made many stops to admire the panorama, to loose ourselves walking among the stone houses of a village or to eat in a tavern under the curious glance of the owner. The cloudy weather didn't accompany the journey too much because the clouds went down close to us and they didn't allow us to see the mountains.

We found scattered seaside villages, villages on the mountain slopes, creeks, pine forests and gulf views. There are really ancient houses and chapels, even built in 11th to 13th centuries.

We finished our adventure in Aeropoli, a village full of taverns, where we ate. There are artisan shops, churches and defensive towers. Many of the towers offered rural accommodation.

The inhabitants of this regions, particularly at the south, have always shown a very individual and bellicose character, trying to maintain their autonomy. In the past they were gathered in tribes with a local boss, and they were habitual the vengeance among these tribes (called vendettas), a situation that leaded the fortification of the houses. Many of the inhabitants of this region (called Mani) still conserve ancestors' customs such as hospitality, the customes or the traditions.

In these places they hold the custom that the women participating in the vigil dance improvising till they fall exhausted.
The nature and traditions of Mani is very similar to Crete. Maybe the characteristics of the terrain in both places (mountainous and nearby the sea) that favour somehow their isolation, could contribute to this resemblance.

We didn't penetrate in Mani as the day was short (it was November) and it was starting to get dark. We went back along the same road and we could enjoy one o the prettiest sunsets we have ever seen, totally in solitude, surrounded only by the nature, the landscape and the sea, with no people nor noises.
In Kalamata we had dinner in a modern bar crowded with young people and we went out to a couple of night pubs along the sea walk, although they weren't very lively and the atmosphere was rather quiet.

Next day it dawned with a heavy rain that ruined our plans. We gave the car back and walk for a while through the harbour, waiting for the rain to stop. As the rain continued and the shops were closed (it was Sunday) we decided to return to Athens. Finally the winter had arrived and therefore our travels across Greece had reached the end.