Greek Orthodox churches, chapels and shrines are still a drachma a dozen in the Peloponnese. It’s not uncommon, in fact, for The Idiot to spot two shrines on the same rural street corner.

Two shrines on a country road near Kylini in the northwestern Peloponnese.

And there’s nothing unusual about MedTrekking past a serene shrine on the sandy Mediterranean coast. This one a few kilometers south of the new three million euro pleasure boat port in Lechaina was full of candles ready to be lit.

Serene shrine in the sand.

But it’s always a treat to stumble on a tiny chapel that — due to its location or surroundings or my state of mind – blows my hiking socks off. The one I passed near Kalogria, which is situated in the middle of a purple-tinted marsh and surrounded by all sorts of respectful waterfowl, did just that. I was definitely in the mood to swoon when I MedTrekked upon it after munching on fresh figs, grapes and watermelon while walking for hours around the fertile Cape Araxos.

Purple foliage accentuated the simple white chapel.

I’m probably not the first person to get excited about this little chapel. But most people come here primarily for the sandy beaches or perhaps to eye the remains of the Cyclopean wall that fortified the ancient city of Dyme on the mountaintop behind the chapel. However it’s the chapel that I suggest you put on your bucket list!

Not that I ignore heralded tourist sites. Tomorrow I’m taking a ferry to the island of Zakynthos where the pundits say Shipwreck Bay, which is perhaps Greece’s best-known natural landmark, has the classiest beach, and cleanest water, in the Mediterranean. Fortunately the ferry leaves from just outside my room in Kylini @

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=37.93727,21.14441&ll=37.93727,21.14441&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Text and Photos: Joel Stratte-McClure

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."