The Times - UK (2022-06-11)

the times Saturday June 11 2022

50 Travel

stalactite-draped Diros caves offer a

chance to visit the underworld in a boat —

or they will once renovations have been

completed. One of the off-limits caves, the

Alepotrypa (“fox hole”), contains the

largest Neolithic cemeteries discovered

in Europe: two skeletons from 3,800BC

were found in a lovers’ embrace. The

Mycenaeans also left a 1300BC ossuary.

Some believe it is this cultural memory

that would make Cape Tainaron the

mythical entrance to Hades, the land

of the dead.

South, into the Deep Mani,

the bulging cape of Cavo

Grosso is dotted with tiny

frescoed Byzantine

churches (always worth a

visit if you can hunt

down the key-holder).

Follow the road from

Agia Kyriaki and with

sturdy shoes you can

scramble over the ruins

of the 6th century Castle

Magne, built by the

Byzantine emperor Jus-

tinian on the narrow mile-

long Tigani “frying pan”

peninsula. Beyond curve

1,000ft white cliffs, with cave

“strongboxes” where pirates

stored their booty, towering above

Mezapos’ two beaches, Chalikia and

Kourkou, with turquoise waters so clear

that boats cast shadows on the seafloor.

Further south, the deepest of the Deep

Mani is austere and wind-scoured, the

Insider’s Greece: go to the Mani

It’s wild, it’s beautiful

and its mountains

and fishing villages

are impossibly

romantic, says

Dana Facaros

S

pectacular, rugged, and dotted

with villages of tower houses

that for centuries were accessi-

ble only by sea, the Mani is a

place apart, where myths and

fairytales collide. Its fascinating

world’s-edge reputation goes

back to antiquity, when a shrine to Posei-

don offered sanctuary to adventurers,

rebels, pirates and mercenaries at the pen-

insula’s southernmost tip, Cape Tainaron

(or Matapan), near a cave said to be an en-

trance to Hades. The last ancient Spartans

probably ended up here. It was the final

place in Greece to be fully converted to

Christianity, back in the 9th century.

Fiercely independent, or just plain

fierce, the Mani produced some of the

leaders of the 1820s Greek War of Inde-

pendence, notably powerful Petrobey

Mavromichalis, whose grandfather was

believed to have married a beautiful

fairy — either that or the daughter of a

Venetian doge hiding in the Mani from a

wicked stepmother. After the first leader

of independent Greece, Ioannes Capo-

distrias, imprisoned Petrobey (it’s compli-

cated), his clan did what Maniots did: they

assassinated Capodistrias. Even nowa-

days, when a Greek holds something

maniatiko, they are holding a grudge that

demands revenge.

Today the Mani is peaceful, sometimes

too peaceful; improving roads in the

20th century meant that many Maniots

could leave for easier lives. Now, tower

houses have been renovated as hotels with

comforts that would have seemed like

fantasy to their builders.

The nearest airport is Kalamata. If you

aren’t cycling (see opposite) you’ll need a

car, and in less than an hour you’ll be

swooping like an eagle down the slopes of

the Taygetos to Kardamyli, immersed in

olive groves and cypresses. In the Iliad Ag-

amemnon tried to give Kardamyli to

Achilles to appease his wrath; Achilles re-

fused, proof that he was deranged. The

twin gods Castor and Pollux are supposed-

ly buried here, near Old Kardamyli — a

cluster of stunning tower houses built dur-

ing the Venetian period. To visit the writer

Patrick Leigh Fermor’s house, book tickets

Vathia at sunset

online (£4; benaki.org); his wonderful Ma-

ni (1958) is still a fantastic introduction to

the region. There are five lovely beaches to

try nearby. The Dioskuri taverna (mains

from £10) has the best views and sunsets.

The Mediterranean lushness continues

south towards little Kalogria Bay, where

the author Nikos Kazantzakis lived in 1917-

18, running a lignite mine with a certain

scamp named Zorba... Beyond await the

beaches and holiday hotspots of Stoupa

and Agios Nikolaos; near the latter, at

Gnospi, you can dive among the

caves into pure crystal sea.

Itylos, a little further south,

was once a pirate’s nest

nicknamed the “Great

Algiers”. It shares a bay

with pretty Limeni, a

fishing village where the

sea laps against the

houses; one was the

tower stronghold of the

“fairy-born” Mavromi-

chalis clan. Here you

might stop at Limeni

Village Hotel; its tradi-

tionally styled wood and

stone rooms in 16 towers all

have mesmerising views, and

there are two fine restaurants

(B&B doubles from £102; limeni

village.gr).

Next south is Areopoli, originally Tsim-

ova but renamed after the god of war in

honour of Petrobey, who still rules the

main square, at least in fiercely moustach-

ioed statue form. South of Areopoli, the

10 miles

GREECE

Cape Matapan

Kitta Vathia

Mezapos

Areopoli

Limeni

Gnospi

Stoupa

Kardamyli

Cavo

Grosso

Kalamata

Airport

Mediterranean

Sea

Limeni