12 March 2025 – The Mesa Mani Part 1

Miles driven today = 34

Total Miles to date = 1,885

Today marks a month since we left our home in Suffolk to embark on our adventures and we have already reached the most Southerly stopover point of the trip at 36.4 degrees North.

We started the day by driving around the Bay we spent last night facing out towards and up the hill to the town of Areopoli.

Areopoli’s most famous son was a guy called Petrobeis Mavromichalis, who was the “Bey” or leader of the Maniots and was instrumental in the struggle for Greece’s independence, which was ultimately achieved in 1821.

The Ayii Taxiarhes is the town’s Cathedral.

It looks medieval but actually only dates back to the end of the 18^th Century.

We wandered through the main square where a lot of the traditional tower houses have been renovated.

And we also had a look around some of the back streets where lots of them haven’t been and are in a rather ramshackle state.

We dropped back down to the coastline again to the Mani’s Number 1 tourist attraction, The Caves of Diros.  The tour starts with a 30 minute boat trip in punts which are expertly navigated around impressive subterranean network.

Lisa got to ride shotgun, although she wasn’t impressed with the lack of legroom up front.

I’ve looked around quite a few cave networks in my time but the forces of nature involved never fail to impress me.

In some places stalactites and stalagmites have joined to create huge impressive pillars.

In other places huge curtains of rock drop from the ceiling.  Mind your head!

The final section of the caves you can walk through.

This allowed me to keep my phone still enough to almost do the intricacy of the rock formations some justice.

One final huge cave before we emerged back into daylight.

We’ve had a distinct change in the weather today.  The temperatures are still in the low 20s but it has been overcast and muggy with a strong southerly wind whipping up the waves. 

We stopped for lunch in Gerolimenas in a nice sheltered car park.  After we had eaten we went for a walk through the town and out along the coastal path.

The Mesa Mani is a very rugged landscape but still absolutely smothered in Spring flowers.

We thought about possibly pulling up stumps for the day and staying in Gerolimenas tonight.  There certainly seemed to be several tavernas open to serve the few tourists who were in town.  But there is also a good deal of building work going on and we were unsure what time of day they might all start up again in the morning so we stuck to our original plan and moved on.

Back on the road again, we stopped briefly to have a look over the rugged beauty of the village of Kiparissos

Then it was back up into the hills to what is reckoned to be the quintessential Maniot tower house settlement at Vathia.

Vathia was once home to some 300 people but as many as 100 of them were thought to have been killed in a feud with a neighbouring clan.  The village has been largely abandoned although some of the buildings like the one to the left here have been restored and are still lived in.

The village church and surrounding buildings.

We had a peep through a window of one of the abandoned buildings and spotted this old flour mill still in the state it was left barring a few fallen roof tiles.

As we departed the town we stopped for a quick look back.  What a view!

After that we found our way to our home for the night at Porto Kagio.  That’s us parked up to the left of the photo.

Like last night we are in a taverna car park where we can stay for free provided we pop in for a meal.  There was a German couple here who arrived just before us but they turned around and left so we are on our own again.  It’s a bit scruffy with builders’ rubble in one corner but it’s easy enough to look the other way.

There’s a footpath up to a nearby headland so we went for a walk.  On the other side of the bay you can see two more seemingly inaccessible settlements.  The one on the right is the Castle of Achilion which was built by the Turks.

Lisa went foraging again.  She remembered her penknife this time so she came back with a decent haul in her bag.  She said “I think we’ve got enough thyme”.  I said “yeah, it’s still only quarter to four.”

Just a few kilometres further down the coast from here is Cape Tainaron, the most southerly point on mainland Greece.

Approaching the end of the trail with impressive wild euphorbia.  We thought that the path would come to an end on the other side of this rock.

But instead we found it led to a tiny Chapel.  I couldn't resist having a ding of the bell, much to Lisa’s disgust.

Surprisingly the chapel was unlocked so we had a quick look inside.  At that point my phone battery died but apart from waving to a yacht as it made it’s way around the headland and into the calmer waters of the bay, there was little to report before we found our way back.

We kept our end of the deal by having our evening meal at Taverna Porto.  Naturally, it’s a fish restaurant but they only had one solitary unidentified fish in the chiller and that had been caught using a speargun, which looked like it would probably have made a bit of a mess of its insides.  So we passed and went for prawns, squid, chips and an aubergine salad which was seriously heavy on the garlic.  It’s a good job we’re not entertaining tonight.

Despite the bay we are on being north facing and sheltered from the worst of the wind, the waves are still roaring out there just a few metres away from the front of the van.  This is the only road in and out of here.  So we are hoping it’s still there in the morning.  Assuming it is we are all ready for exploring the east side of the Mesa Mani in the morning.

13 March 2025 - The Mesa Mani Part 2