We move our van onto the next "finger" of the Pelopennese to Camping Meltemi near Gythio to explore the Mani. With the scooter we drive down the eastern coast and stop off for coffee at the little harbour village of Kotronos.
All the villages in this area have tower houses built in the 15th century by the Maniots, Byzantine refugees. These families were feudal and the houses had to be fortified.
The area is very rural and unpopulated. Donkeys and goats walking down the roads are
quite commonplace.
We head down the coast past Kournos.
At the top of the last hill we got some amazing views of the peninsular at Tenaron Point
At the point there is a temple of Posiedon and we stopped for lunch, fish of course overlooking the temple and bay.
On the way back we passed another Maniot village called Vathia. Nearly all the towers have been well restore, and its position on the top of a ridge makes this a very typical example of the villages in this area.
The Mani is renowned for its many Byzantine chapels, the area was one of the last places in Greece to become Christian in the 9th century and every corner, house and village has many churches. This tiny chapel we spotted on our way home.
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