After a few days under the trees on the beach, where we were neighbors with a German family on vacation, we headed toward the Mani peninsula.

This peninsula is famous for its stone villages that look like small fortifications. It's a part of the world where you just drive through and enjoy it... perfect for us! We drove through villages like Kitta and Vathia sitting beautifully in the hills and reached the very southern tip of the peninsula. There's a small parking area from which you walk about 2 km to the lighthouse. It's a popular weekend walk, so several groups of Greeks were heading there along with us.

For our overnight spot, we chose a different place. We drove back north, this time along the eastern side of the peninsula to the town of Agios Kiprianos. The road there went down a brutal hill – this entire area is mountainous, and like most of Greece, it's not gentle. On the way down with about a 15% grade, we prayed that our Iveco wouldn't run away and that the brakes would hold. We arrived at our chosen spot just before dark with one furry stalker. A puppy had followed us from town. It was incredibly cute, but since it kept scratching itself, we didn't want to pet it too much. We don't want fleas! It guarded us nicely all night (read: barked at every change in the wind), so we were somewhat relieved when its owner came to get it in the morning. :D

Gythio and a nearby shipwreck

On Sunday we wanted to get a bit further north to be closer to Sparta. We drove along the east coast enjoying the views. In the town of Gythio we stopped, checked out the local lighthouse, grabbed lunch, and stopped at a café for coffee and also to support them by buying some of their local products.

For our overnight spot we found a beach where a wreck of a smuggling ship from 1981 is stuck in the shallows. Supposedly it ended up there during a really big storm. But there are other, more interesting stories circulating about it. Like about a ship full of ghosts and such. The imagination knows no bounds!

When we arrived, we were greeted by a Spaniard who lives in a caravan with his dog and travels all over Greece. He was quite enthusiastic about our van, so we talked and talked until the sun almost set without even going to see the wreck. But we made it! He just had to leave, so we didn't learn more interesting stories from his travels. (He traveled half of Asia in a Land Rover and Africa in a Unimog!)

In the morning I got up early and ran out to photograph the wreck at sunrise. And it was absolutely divine!!!

Three days above Sparta

Then we discovered that our choice of location for the week wasn't ideal – the 3G internet wasn't enough for us, so we moved closer to Sparta. We climbed up a hill next to it with views of the mountains and city and stayed there for three days. The first two days were overcast with some rain, so we didn't mind working.

When the weather improved a bit, I went for a run. It was all downhill at first and uphill on the way back, but it was worth it! My goal was a cave with a chapel, which was awesome by itself. But even the journey there was an experience. I ran along the side of a canyon where the Greeks had built their aqueduct, so it was a relatively good path with great views!

On Friday we were both looking forward to the weekend, so we left a bit earlier. We walked through the ruins of ancient Sparta and had lunch in the center. There's not much left of the ruins. Spartans led a Spartan life, so they didn't have any monumental monuments either. There were a few houses, a temple, and a theater. But modern Spartans put a statue of Leonidas in front of their stadium, so tourists have something to photograph! ...we also took a selfie. :D

A different Sparta

What people usually come to Sparta for is the Byzantine city of Mystras – a relatively well-preserved city with lots of churches with original paintings built on a hill. Supposedly when travelers from the West arrived there in the 19th century, they thought it was the remains of that ancient Sparta. I thought so for a while too, but the opposite is unfortunately true. Not much remains of the original Sparta, and this 14th-century city is the main reason people come here. It's also a UNESCO site. Given that it wouldn't tell us much, we skipped it. But don't be discouraged! It will definitely impress you. They say it's really beautiful and you can spend several hours walking around.

From Sparta we set out on the road toward Kalamata. The road passed by the Kaiadas cave, where Spartans supposedly threw their weak and deformed children, prisoners, and traitors. We also climbed into that cave and found several broken bones, but I can't tell you if they were human.

Tense journey

From Friday to Saturday we slept by the beach in the town of Kalamata. We were so tired that we didn't feel like finding anything else. We were a bit worried we wouldn't sleep because of the cars and that someone would come rob us at night. It was a needless worry! In the morning we discovered we'd had the side door unlocked all night, but nobody stopped by to check. Still, we didn't sleep much because of the neighbor's rooster crowing all night...

For Saturday I picked an excursion to one of Greece's many canyons – Ridomo. We found that you can park nearby and then walk to see it. I didn't research the details thoroughly, so it turned out we drove through extremely narrow streets, one lady had to move her car for us, then we had to reverse past a church so those opposite could pass, we slightly scared a lady when we drove past her uphill, and at one bump over a gully our cabinet opened and we broke our only whiskey glass. I drove the last part with my eyes closed, praying that our Iveco and driver could handle this terrain.

Up through the canyon

After this experience I was slightly upset whether it even made sense to drive here when we had such losses – the whiskey glass. Oh well. We set out to see that canyon since we're already here, even though it started to drizzle lightly. The path led steeply down first, then along a dry riverbed. Occasionally we were forced to climb over huge rocks where iron grips had been installed.

The upper section led through a narrow and deep rocky canyon. Such a fantasy setting where you just wait to see what emerges from the shadows. But it was beautiful! And even though Leo occasionally uttered that famous sentence "when will we get there", at the end he assessed that it was worth even those few days of pain and sore muscles.

The goal was a small bridge over the canyon. I had no idea how far it was or whether we'd have to climb back the same way, so I preferred not to mention it. If he'd found out at the start that we might have to climb back down, he probably wouldn't have gone with me! :D

But at the bridge there was a path out of the canyon. We were then able to get back via a contour path, so it was almost effortless. After lunch, which I then cooked in the van, we drove to the archaeological site of Messene and slept near it above a monastery. On Sunday morning we woke to the sound of praying monks, had breakfast, and set out to see the monuments.

Ancient city

This weekend the weather really isn't favoring us. It's overcast and occasionally something drips. But despite this we were able to enjoy this tour. It's one of the best-preserved ancient Greek cities. It's not as famous, so it's not full of tourists and it's not on the UNESCO list either. Perhaps because of this, they have freer hand in reconstructing this monument, and thus are able to rebuild it faster, though perhaps not as precisely. But we as laypeople don't mind at all! We walked through the Messenian agora, saw the Asklepion complex (something like a hospital), ran on the stadium, watched imaginary matches, and played on the stage of the local theater. And almost alone!

What's great about this monument is that it's accessible almost everywhere. So you can freely climb the walls, sit on chairs, benches, columns, basically anywhere. The city is quite extensive, so you can spend a few hours here. We were there for about an hour and a half, then hunger drove us to find a tavern. Google recommended one in the center of Mavrommati – the town just above the monument. We tried it and didn't regret it! The food was excellent and the service very friendly. We even got souvenirs as gifts! :)

To the beach!

From Messene we headed west. My goal was one supposedly really beautiful beach – Voidokilia. But nobody told me that when you arrive in really bad weather, it's quite ugly there. Plus the place where we planned to park was so sandy that we would have just gotten stuck. And in summer that's supposedly a real parking lot!

So we moved to another beach where we're staying for the night. It's peaceful and the only thing we hear is the sound of waves. We're getting close to leaving! Soon we'll head back north and thus leave this beach camping behind. So we must enjoy it while we can! :)