Forget the crowded Cyclades. The Mani peninsula in the southern Peloponnese is one of Greece’s best-kept secrets, according to French daily Le Parisien, which praises its mountain villages, traditional tavernas, crystal-clear coves and spectacular caves.
In a travel feature for its weekend magazine published on 24 October, journalist Dominique Savidan describes Mani as a region “too often overlooked in favour of the Cyclades islands”, where visitors can still find the authentic landscapes of Homer’s Odyssey.
The Mani peninsula, a land that has to be earned
Mani lies about three and a half hours’ drive from Athens. Le Parisien says it is a place that “has to be earned”: a car is the only practical way to get around, on winding roads squeezed between the sea and the mountains.
Read more: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey boosts tourism in Kalamata and Messinia
Along the way, the 2,400-metre peaks of Taygetus, the highest mountain in the Peloponnese, appear between the bends. The paper notes that the region’s isolation and fortified villages helped the Maniots keep their independence for centuries, holding out against the Romans, the Venetians and the Ottoman Turks.
Le Parisien paints a picture of endless olive groves, empty beaches, small Byzantine chapels and fishing villages still untouched by mass tourism. Its advice is to take a seat at a seaside taverna with an ouzo or a frappé and enjoy the mild, sunny weather of the late season.
Areopoli, where the revolution began
The first stop is Areopoli, about 80 kilometres from Kalamata airport. Cars stay in a free car park outside the village, leaving its cobbled lanes, lined with bougainvillea and traditional stone tower houses, to people on foot.
It was here, on 17 March 1821, that Petros Mavromichalis, known as Petrobey, the last bey of Mani, declared the Greek War of Independence. A bronze statue of him stands in the Square of the Immortals (Plateia Athanaton), and his house has been turned into a museum, Le Parisien reports.
The underground lake of Diros
The highlight for the French paper is the Diros caves, which it calls among the most spectacular in Europe. Visitors explore a “cathedral” of stalactites and stalagmites by boat, in a silence broken only by the sound of dripping water, before finishing on foot along a narrow path past petrified waterfalls and strangely shaped limestone formations.
Only a fraction of the system is open to the public: 1,500 metres out of 14,700 metres mapped, according to Le Parisien, which puts entry at €12.
Seafood at Limeni
Fifteen kilometres from Diros, the tiny village of Limeni has no beach, but steps between its stone houses lead straight into the turquoise water. Locals travel to eat at Kourmas, a waterfront seafood restaurant that Le Parisien calls the best in the area. It recommends fried octopus, the catch of the day or fresh prawns, washed down with a glass of Malvasia, the white wine of the region’s best-known grape, for about €30 a head.
Monemvasia, the “Gibraltar of Greece”
About an hour and a half’s drive from Limeni is Monemvasia, the fortified town on a rock rising more than 300 metres from the sea, reached from the mainland by a single causeway. Cars are banned, so visitors wander its narrow lanes on foot, past Venetian-style houses and more than 20 Byzantine churches. A half-hour climb leads to the ruins of the upper town and the 12th-century church of Agia Sofia, with sweeping views along the coast.
Cape Tainaro, the gate to the underworld
At the southern tip of the peninsula is Cape Tainaro (Cape Matapan), the southernmost point of mainland Greece. Le Parisien recommends the walk of just over two kilometres along a rocky, shadeless path to the lighthouse, built in 1892.
In Greek mythology, the cape was known as a gateway to the underworld, because its caves were said to lead to Hades. Ruins of a sanctuary of Poseidon can still be seen there, along with a mosaic floor.
A hotel at the end of the world
The trip ends past the deserted tower village of Vathia, at the Marmari Paradise Beach hotel, which has 18 stone-walled rooms with sea-view terraces and a private sandy beach. Rooms start from €147, the paper says, and the owner, Nikos, greets guests with a sunset cocktail and local cooking.
Getting there
Le Parisien notes that Transavia runs a weekly Sunday flight from Paris to Kalamata until 1 November, with fares from €38 one way, followed by an 80-kilometre drive to Areopoli. For souvenirs, it suggests local olive oil and Malvasia wine.
Source: Le Parisien
