Porto Kagio

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22 September 2014

We climbed back up to the main road and passed through Areopoli, the last major settlement on the peninsula. Our next stop was at the Vilchada Caves where we had an excellent 1.5k trip in a punt along narrow and sometimes low flooded passages with the stalactites reflected in the clear water.

We were now in the Mesa Mani and as we travelled along back roads in the mountains the land became barren and rock strewn with villages constructed of the towers the area is famous for. The reason for the towers is that the desolate landscape was populated by a number of clans and when one found some fertile ground they built a tower house to protect it. This led to a series of feuds with several battling families sometimes in the same village.

We lunched on very bony fish of unknown origin at a basic taverna in the tiny port of Mezapos. As we continued southwards past the resort of Gerolimenas the mountains became bare and rock strewn. We overnighted at Porto Kagio in a taverna car park and dined there on superb locally caught fish which was a great improvement on the lunchtime offering!

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