Travel – The Peloponnese – Areopoli and Gythio

This is an excerpt from my book Travels through History : The Peloponnese currently available at a discount.

Extending south between the Messinian and Laconian Gulfs, the Mani Peninsula ends at Cape Matapan, the southernmost point of continental Greece. There was a naval battle off Matapan between the British and Australian navies on one side and the Italian navy on the other, between 27th and 29th March 1941. It was a remarkable, one-sided encounter. The Italians lost three cruisers, two destroyers, and 2,400 sailors, whereas the British lost one aircraft and its crew. The battle showed the tremendous power of even a few slow-flying, carrier-based torpedo planes (Albacores and Swordfish manufactured by Fairey), used against vulnerable surface ships. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t travel down the Mani peninsula beyond Aeropoli, the capital of the Mani, where the Maniot revolt against the Turks began in 1821. This is a wonderful place to have a wander around with its cafes, churches, and pedestrianised streets in the old town. There’s a cafe with many tens of bird boxes adorning the coloured walls, close to the Church of Taxiarches. St John’s Church is near the Pikoulakis’ tower, today housing a Byzantine museum.

The Church of the Taxiarches, built by the Mavromichalis family, dominates the centre of the city, on 17th of March 1821 square. Here on this day, the notables of Mani under the leadership of Petrobey Mavromichalis (please see the story about Nafplio above) declared the start of the revolution for independence after a church service. Thus began the Maniot rising. The church, built at the end of the 18th century, has no aisles but has many vaulted arches. It stands out thanks to its elegant, five-storied bell tower, added in 1836.

After Areopoli, I next visited Gythio, overlooking the Laconian Gulf, with its fishing fleet of wooden boats bobbing on the swell by a thriving waterfront of cafes and shops. This is a lovely place to take a break and if you stay for the night, visit the island of Cranae or Kranai, connected to the land by a causeway built in 1898. Here I discovered a lighthouse, St Peter’s Church, and one of the typical towers of the Mani, the Tzanetaki Tower with its cacti almost reaching the first-floor windows. 

On the opposite side of the Laconian Gulf from Gythio, is a ship on a beach, though it’s not as famous as the one on Zakynthos. Visitors must be careful here as turtles lay their eggs on the beach at certain times of the year. The wreck of the ship, called the Dimitrios, has been on Selinitsa beach since 1981. This ship docked in an emergency at the port of Gythio as the captain needed medical care. The crew didn’t tie the ship up properly and the severe weather meant the Dimitrios drifted across the gulf and ran aground, where it remains to this day.