“Inhospitable” is everyone’s favorite adjective to describe the heathen terrain and hostile topography of the southwestern coast of the Mani Peninsula in the Peloponnese. Indeed, the beautiful region is so stark, barren, rocky, cliffy, windswept, arid and remote that six new words are being invented in contemporary Greek each year to more colorfully describe it.
The Idiot doesn’t need to learn any new descriptive words about the place. He’s already smart enough to throw in the towel when confronted with the towering cliffs, oft-impassible terrain and taxing elements of the rugged Mani Peninsula.
Statuesque cliffs and a rocky seaside aren’t always ideal for MedTrekking.
When The Idiot took refuge earlier this week in the small fishing village of Gerolimenas, he sought out the village’s first stone building mentioned in Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor’s book “Mani.” He discovered that the historic structure is now part of the luxurious-by-any-standards and MedTrekker-welcoming Kyrimai Hotel, a lavish refuge amid the harsh reality of the challenging countryside.
A hospitable hotel amid inhospitable terrain.
Looking at the sea beyond the Kyrimai pool.
A breakfast meant for a MedTrekker.
The Idiot also accordingly adapted his adventure walking strategy. The 30-kilometer MedTrek assault to and beyond the southernmost spot in the Peloponnese on a cloudy, windy and comparatively cool day was on a mostly carless tarmac road instead of the pathless seaside. Although always in sight of the sea, this kept The Idiot looking cool, calm and collected instead of sweaty, smelly and scratched.
The Idiot’s street image in a roadside mirror.
The Idiot strolled alone along the empty cobblestone sidewalks amid the mostly vacant stone towers in Vathia, one of the area’s many tower-dominated hilltop villages. These are just a few of the 853 towers on the Mani peninsula and the rule of thumb is that the more powerful and wealthy the owner, the higher the tower.
Want a tower? There are vacancies in Vathia.
The Idiot also slowed his pace and stopped for a leisurely lunch in Port Cagio, which means Quail Port (it presumably gets its name after the bird everyone around here is now trying to shoot at dawn and dusk) and unhurriedly strolled past an isolated Byzantine church on his way to the Sanctuary and Death Oracle of Poesidon Tainarios. This has long been considered by the Greeks to be the entrance to Hades and is now filled with contemporary votive offerings that include notes, postcards, unsmoked cigarettes and lots of coins.
Offerings at the Sanctuary and Death Oracle of Poesidon Tainarios.
A mountainside Byzantine church on a heathen hillside near Quail Port.
Then The Idiot passed the ruins of the Church ton Assomaton to arrive at the Akrotirio Tenaro lighthouse, which is near one of the deepest spots in the Mediterranean and the place where the Ionian and Aegean Seas meet. He spent a dawdling hour watching cargo and cruise ships round the cape @ http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=36.3862,22.48288&ll=36.3862,22.48288&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1.
The Idiot’s next challenge on the Mani Peninsula is going to be finding the bed where Paris spent his first night with Helen before taking her home to Troy and starting the Trojan War. That investigation will occur on the island of Marathonissi near Githio before The Idiot heads north to Sparta and Mycenae to check in on Telémakhos, Menelaus, Agamemnon and other members of the Homeric gang. Then he moves to Thessalonika to computerlessly meander amidst the monks and monasteries on the Greek Orthodox-run Mount Athos peninsula.
Text and Photos: Joel Stratte-McClure
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