Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Yeroliménas and the south
After the journey from Areópoli,
YEROLIMÉNAS
(Yerolimín) feels like a village in limbo,
but it does make a good base for exploring the southern extremities of the Máni. There
are a few shops, a
post office,
, a couple of
cafés
and several
hotels
. The petrol station
just beyond Yeroliménas is currently the southernmost of the peninsula.
South from Yeroliménas, the scenery becomes browner, treeless and more arid; a good
road (and the bus) continues to
Álika
, where it divides. One fork leads east through the
mountains to Láyia (see p.162), and the other continues southwards to
Váthia
and
across the
Marmári isthmus
towards
Cape
Ténaro
. Between Álika and Váthia there are
good coves for swimming. One of the best is
Kypárissos
, reached by following a dry
riverbed about midway to Váthia. On the headland above are scattered Roman remains
of ancient Kaenipolis, including (amid the walled fields) the excavated ruins of a
sixth-century basilica.
2
Váthia
VÁTHIA
, a photogenic group of tower-houses set uncompromisingly on a high
hillside outcrop, is one of the most dramatic villages in the Mésa Máni. It features
in Colonel Leake's account of his travels, one of the best sources on Greece in the
early nineteenth century. He was warned to avoid going through the village in 1805
as a feud had been running between two families for the previous forty years. Today
it has the feel of a ghost town. The EOT-restored inn, occupying a dozen tower-
houses, has been bankrupt and inactive for some years now, though there is a
seasonal café.
Pórto Káyio
From Váthia the road south to the cape edges around the mountain, before slowly
descending to a couple of junctions. Left at the second brings you steeply down to
the beach and laidback hamlet of
PÓRTO KÁYIO
(“Bay of Quails”, 6km from Váthia).
A pleasant short walk goes out to the Ágios Nikólaos chapel on the southeastern
headland of the bay, while across the bay on the north side are the spectacular ruins
of a Turkish fortress contemporary with Kelefá and the monastery of
Korogoniánika.
Marmári
Above Pórto Káyio, the right branch of the road goes south along the headland, capped
by the Grigorákis tower, to the pleasant, sandy
beaches
at the double bay of
MARMÁRI
.
The picturesque hamlet itself straddles a promontory between the two bays and
amounts to little more than a collection of accommodation options, some of them
quite luxurious for such a desolate and stony spot.
On to Cape Ténaro
Starting from the left fork before Marmári, follow the surfaced road and signs for
the fish taverna, passing a turning for Páliros and making your way along the final
barren peninsula, to Stérnes (Kokkinóyia). The road ends at a knoll crowned with
the squat
chapel of Asómati
, constructed largely of materials from an ancient
temple
of Poseidon
.
To the left (east) as you face the chapel is the little pebbly
bay of Asómati
; on the
shore is a small
cave
, another addition to the list of mythical entrances to the
underworld. To the right (west) of Asómati, the marked main path continues along
the edge of another cove and through the metre-high foundations of a
Roman town
that grew up around the Poseidon shrine; there is even a mosaic in one structure. From
here the old trail, which existed before the road was bulldozed, reappears as a walled
path, allowing 180-degree views of the sea on its 25-minute course to the lighthouse
on
Cape Ténaro
.
