06/08/2022
SOUTH OF THE MANI PENINSULA THIS AFTERNOON... ⛅️🌊
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30/07/2022
THE RIDOMO CANYON AT ITS NARROWEST, MESSENIA
Ridomo Canyon stretches from Mount Neraidovouna (2031 m) in the Taygetos Mountain, all the way to the coast, ending at Santova beach, 12 km south of Kalamata. The total length of the gorge is about 25 km. The width varies from little more than 1 m, at this point, close to the ancient settlement of Pigadia, to more than 100 m as it opens next to the sea. This is what Pausanias called the "Valley of the Pigs" in Classical Antiquity.
The old Pigadiotiko stone bridge, 60 m above, is a part of an ancient stone path that connected the small mountain villages between them and to Zarnata, the main settlement of the region in the 17th-19th centuries, residence of the Ottoman pasha of Mani since 1670.
In case of flash floods, the canyon is to be avoided at all costs for safety reasons. In the summer, the stream disappears, but when heavy rain fall on the mountain above, the narrow canyon can turn into a deadly trap in a matter of minutes as the huge volume of the river and its speed will carry everything away, including large boulders. Check the weather forecast and watch for any sign of change in the weather conditions!
30/07/2022
CORON (KORONI/KORON): THE SOUTH BEACH UNDERNEATH THE VENETIAN/OTTOMAN FORTIFIED TOWN
30/07/2022
CORON (KORONI/KORON): INTERIOR OF THE EARLY 16th CENTURY OTTOMAN HOLLOW TOWER
Due to the imminent risk of collapse, the last huge Ottoman artillery tower that survives at Coron to this day (since its north counterpart was blown up by the Germans in 1944), consolidation works are currently being done inside the tholos chamber. Let us hope it will be enough to save this wonder of Turkish military architecture!
05/05/2022
FOREGROUND: THE BRAND-NEW ALTEYA CATAMARAN (2022). BACKGROUND: THE 134-METER LONG WIND STAR (1985). ARGOLIC GULF THIS AFTERNOON.
30/04/2022
14th CENTURY MONASTERY OF THE SAVIOR, BUILT IN THE 500 M DEEP VYROS GORGE, UNDER THE SUMMIT OF THE TAYGETOS (2405 M)
30/04/2022
FAMILY MANSION BUILT IN 1770 NEXT TO THE OLD ROAD CITRES (KITRIES) HARBOR - SKARDAMOULA (KARDAMILI)
Pristine condition, including the doors, only the roof has been renovated recently. This large house was built exactly at the time of the Orlov Revolt, when Russian Admiral Aleksey Orlov landed in the region and vainly attempted to rally the Orthodox populations against the Ottomans. The revolt failed, plagued by dissensions, and Orlov soon gave up, sailing back to Crimea in June 1770.
Fifty years later, Imperial Russia once more assisted the Greeks against the Ottomans during the War of Independence that broke out in 1821. Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first Governor of the First Hellenic Republic, had previously served as Russia's foreign minister. The second queen of Greece was born Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna Romanov, granddaughter of Tsar Nikolay I. The Kingdom of Greece and the Russian Empire fought for the Allies during WW1 against the Central Powers and Greece and the Soviet Union fought again on the same side during WW2 against the Axis powers. Today, Greece has -rather shockingly- joined the rest of the NATO bandwagon against its historical ally Russia.
24/03/2022
WONDERS OF EXO MANI: THE STUNNING AGIOS NIKOLAOS CHURCH AT KASTANIA
Kastania was the last village in the Mani peninsula to resist during the during the Orlov revolt of 1770 against the Ottomans . Most of the gorgeous post-byzantine frescoes are fairly well preserved. The iconostasis is dated 1789.
17/03/2022
MT GHOUPATA (2031 m - TAYGETOS MOUNTAIN RANGE), THIS AFTERNOON
The Taygetos is the highest (2404 m) and longest mountain range of the Peloponnese in Southern Greece. This coniferous forests of unbelievable beauty covers an altitudinal zone between 800 and 1600–1700m dominated by Pine trees (Pinus nigra) and Greek firs (Abies cephalonica Loudon). Wildlife used to include lions, bears, chamois, red deer, foxes, hares, wild boars, snakes, wolves…
-Hikers can still observe many birds, including eagles and owls, and if you are patient and silent enough, other wild animals such as foxes, boars and goats. Some jackals have reappeared recently.
Taygetos is a real hiker paradise. Explorers will never be bothered by the crowds here, as the locals prefer to flock to the seaside all year round. The ancient mountain communities have been deserted. There are a great number of permanent springs with abundant clear and fresh mineral water in the entire mountain range.
-Tragically, deforestation has taken a heavy toll, mostly due to forest fires: 34 fires occurred in the Northern Taygetos area between 1845 and 2010. The 2007 fire alone burned 20% of the former forest area. We are clearly dealing with a greatly endangered ecosystem.
14/03/2022
FLOCK OF SHEEP IN BEAUVOIR CASTLE ABOVE STOUPA, MANI PENINSULA
The castle was built by Prince of Morea Guillaume II de Villehardouin in the 1250s when the Principality was at the peak of its power. According to the 14th century Chronicle of the Morea, Guillaume constructed the castle to subdue the unruly Melengi Slavic tribe of the Taygetos mountain range. The castle built on a flat hilltop at 70 m above the sea overlooks the coastal zone from the entrance of the Messenian Gulf, to the ancient fortified settlement of Cape Trakhilas. Remnants of a fortified gate, a dungeon and a large cistern can still be observed. The entrance is at your own risks as the castle is all but abandoned.
14/03/2022
TAYGETOS - MT CHALASMENO (2204 m), FROM THE TOWER OF ZARNATA CASTLE, OUTER MANI
Built upon the remains of the ancient fortified settlement of Alagonia (above the village of Kampos), the surviving walls and buildings were mostly erected under the command of Grand Vizier Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha from Albania (1635-1676). Archaeological evidences demonstrate that this area has been inhabited by Homo Sapiens since at least 200,000 years. Olive trees are cultivated locally for oil production since the end of the Neolithic.
10/02/2022
18th CENTURY FORTIFIED MONASTERY (alt. 600 m), MANI PENINSULA
28/01/2022
IN THE LIKODHIMO MOUNTAIN, SOUTHWESTERN MESSENIA, THIS MORNING
26/01/2022
1,000 m ABOVE THE MESSENIAN BAY, A STONE CIRCULAR THRESHING FLOOR (PETRALONO) FORMERLY USED FOR THRESHING GRAIN
Scheaves of ripe wheat or barley in stalk were spread on the ground for treading out of the grain by using oxen or mules, a method used since the Neolithic. They were built on an elevated piece of ground so that when the straw was removed the wind blew away the chaff and left the grain. These stone circular threshing floors can be found everywhere in the Taygetos mountain range, up to an altitude of c. 1,500 m. They were used until the first part of the 20th century, the production of wheat was abandoned altogether shortly after WW2.
24/01/2022
BEAUTIFUL SUNNY LANDSCAPE OF MESSENIA THIS MORNING
23/01/2022
17th CENTURY NUCLEUS OF SKARDAMOULA (KARDAMYLE), MESSENIA.
Built in the typical end of the 17th - early 19th Maniot style, the [renovated] Troupakis-Mourtzinos (local chieftains) fortified complex is located on a rocky low hill that enabled the surveillance of both the Messenian Gulf and the only rough road that went from Kalamata to Cape Matapan. The local church was dedicated to Saint Spyridon. The early phase of the complex dates from the Venetian period (1685-1715).
23/01/2022
THE MAINALO MOUNTAIN IN ARCADIA: A LUSH, PRIMORDIAL PARADISE, AT THE HEART OF THE PELOPONNESE
The Mainalo mountain, culminating at Mt Ostrakina (1980 m), is traditionally associated with the cult of the rustic god Pan and his female companions the Nymphs. Pan, Lord of Arcadia, was not worshiped in temples or other built edifices, but in those breathtaking natural settings by the Arcadians, the oldest inhabitants of the Peloponnese.
Virgil used to say that the Mainalo mountain “always echoed with shepherds’ love songs and Pan’s flute”. Menander indicated that “no one should approach this God without making any sound” as Pan was connected to the natural sounds of the holy mountain, the wind in the trees and the pastures, the water springs, the echoes…
Pan was Hermes' son and his mother was a wood nymph. With Zeus’ permission, Hermes gave his son the job of watching over huntsmen, shepherds, flocks of goats and sheep, leading the little flocks from the summer grazing to winter pastures. Quite strangely for us today, Arcadian hunters used to scourge the statue of the goat-god if they had been disappointed in the chase!
A beautiful spruce forest covers about 65% of the mountain area and together with clusters of oaks, prunes, pines, cedars and all forms of vegetation, is the background of a rich mycoflora. Large, undulated alpine meadows, are situated between 1400 and 1650 m. As for the fauna, today it contains a large variety of birds of prey, wild boars, hares, foxes and jackals but there used to be deer, lynx, wolves and bears also.
Most villagers of the mountain communities at the foot of Mainalo are farmers who use the meadows for their sheep and goats and for the production of delicious "vanilla" pine tree honey, a specialty of Vytina.
16/01/2022
ACROPOLIS OF ANCIENT THOURIA (ANTHEIA or ELLENIKA), WITH MT ITHOME (right) AND MT EVA (left) IN THE BACKGROUND
Thouria “settlement on the summit” was the Homeric Antheia according to Pausanias. In the Illiad, it was one of the 7 cities given to Achilles by Agamemnon. Excavations and investigations started by Richard Hope Simpson and William A. McDonald in the 1960s have revealed an impressive Mycenaean necropolis consisting of at least fifteen monumental tholos tombs (1600 – 1500 BC), two enormous prehistoric mounds (Middle Helladic Period), plus the large royal tholos tomb excavated in 1984. Since the eighth century BC, when the Lacedaemonians dominated Messenia, the area acquired the name Thouria and it became the most important “perioikos polis” of western Messenia.
Ancient Thouria, 10 km northwest of Kalamata, occupies most of a narrow ridge (named Ellinika), which stretches north and south and parallels the ancient road Kalamata - Megalopolis. Its length is about 3 km but only at the north end, where the ancient acropolis of Thouria was built with impressive fortifications, is it ever wider than about 300 m: A perfect site for defensive purposes over the Messenian valley.
Thouria is mentioned by Thucydides in his account of the dramatic revolt of the Messenian helots against Sparta in 464 BC. The inhabitants of Thouria sided with the helots and suffered the consequences. After the foundation of Messene in 369 BC, Thouria gained its independence from Sparta.
More extensive excavations at the Classical-Hellenistic site begun in 2007 under the Director of the local Ephorate Dr. Xeni Arapogianni. The excavations so far have brought to light significant remains of public and sacred buildings: The fortified Acropolis, the Asklepieion (4th century BC) situated below the acropolis, a small beautifully preserved theater on the acropolis (2017), temples, a roman bath, the Mycenaean royal necropolis… More than ever, Ancient Thouria is becoming one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece!
06/01/2022
CENTRAL TAYGETOS MOUNTAIN RANGE (PELOPONNESE), ALT. 1110 M, FACING MT PANAGHISTSA (1704 M), AND KOKINOVOUNI (1915 M), YESTERDAY
There are countless abandoned farms and settlements dating back to the Middle Ages up to an altitude of c. 1600 m. The populations progressively went down from the mountains to live in the plains below in the 19th century- early 20th. Mt Panaghista is the pyramid-shaped height on the top photograph. Their are ancient trails everywhere, liking the ancient settlements and the regions of Messenia, Laconia and Arcadia.
03/01/2022
IRIS FLOWER OF THE TAYGETOS MOUNTAIN RANGE, TODAY
The Iris flower takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, which is also the name for the Greek goddess of the rainbow, Iris.
02/01/2022
1580 M ABOVE THE LACONIAN PLAIN AND LEGENDARY SPARTA
02/01/2022
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022!
AT 1600 m IN THE NORTHERN TAYGETOS MOUNTAIN RANGE, JAN. 1st, 2022.
26/12/2021
ENTRANCE OF THE MESSENIAN GULF SEEN FROM SOUTH OF CORON
26/12/2021
VENETIKO, PART OF THE OINOUSSES ISLANDS, OFF SOUTHWESTERN MESSENIA
26/12/2021
CORON (Koroni), CHRISTMAS EVE 2021
The first written record about Coron is from the Arab El Idrisi, a close adviser to King Roger II of Sicily. Towards the end of the twelfth century, he described the site which was then only "a small town with a fort above the sea." In fact, the castle was hardly impressive at the time: when the crusaders Guillaume de Champlitte and Geoffroy de Villehardouin's passed by the city in 1204, the place surrendered without a siege.
But the Venetians wouldn't have it this way. Led by Renier Dandolo, the son of the famous doge, the patrician attacked Coron and Modon the following year and drove out his allies. Indeed the Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae of what used to be the Byzantine Empire had attributed these two fortresses to Venice, the Frankish knights had thus encroached on the "rightful" territories of the Republic. The conflict that followed between Geoffroy Villehardouin and the Venetians lasted only until 1209, when the Chevalier from Champagne confirmed the possession of all Messinia to the Republic. From 1206 to 1500 without interruption, the two twin fortresses displayed the banner of Saint Mark. They were called "the eyes of the Serenissima".
While Modon served as a stopover for pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land, Coron defended the entrance to the Messinian Gulf, which only the Venetian galleys could enter. The Republic managed to keep its possessions in the south of the Morea in a state of remarkable tranquility in the midst of the epic power struggle fought between the French, Byzantines, Catalans, Genoese and Turks.
During the summer of 1500, Sultan Bayezid II at the command of a huge 100,000 army first conquered Modon and then turned to Coron where the Greek inhabitants forced the Venetian garrison to surrender without a fight. Francesco Morosini reconquered the fortress after a very difficult siege in 1685 and the Venetians held it again until 1715.
05/12/2021
LANGADA PASS, ANCIENT ROAD SPARTA - MESSENIA, THIS EVENING
This - now asphalted - road is still the most spectacular way to travel from Laconia to Messenia and vice-versa!
01/12/2021
TOP OF THE TAYGETOS MOUNTAIN COVERED WITH SNOW
View from Likodimo Mountain, across the Messenian Bay, this afternoon.
25/11/2021
HELLENISTIC-ERA STONE BRIDGE OF THE ANCIENT ROAD SPARTA - KARDAMILI
Sparta and Kardamili were connected through the Royal Road, parts of it (including this bridge built 22 centuries ago over the Rassina River) survive to this day. This road was used by the Spartans, when, during the Peloponnesian War, they lost the possession over other ports.
08/11/2021
IMPORTANT BRONZE AGE ACROPOLIS OF THE PYLIAN KINGDOM ON THE NICHORIA RIDGE, MESSENIA
The hilltop Bronze Age settlement, called Timitoakee according to John Chadwick, was suddenly abandoned c. 1200 BC after being inhabited for at least 8 centuries. This event is linked to the destruction of the main “Palace of Nestor” 20 km to the west, capital of the Mycenaean Kingdom of Pylos and situated above Navarino Bay, in one of the most populated and flourishing regions of the Bronze Age Hellenic world. The acropolis was essentially deserted in Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman times. Wild boars, deer and wolves lived in the surroundings. The site was partially excavated at the end of the 1960s - early 1970s by the University of Minnesota Messenia Expedition. Artifacts uncovered are on display at the Archaeological Museum of Kalamata.
06/11/2021
OTTOMAN FORTRESS OF "NEW" NAVARINO, (1573), THIS AFTERNOON
After the stunning victory of Holy League at Lepanto on October 7, 1571, the Turks feared the incursions of the Spanish fleet led by Don Juan of Austria. During the fall of 1572, Felipe II's brother did organize a few attacks against the Morean coast, hoping in vain to clash with Kılıç Ali Paşa's elusive fleet. At the end of September, 8,000 Spaniards under the command of the Duke of Parma Alessandro Farnese attempted to dislodge the Turks from the Medieval castle of Navarino (Port de Jonc), but they failed. On October 6, the Spaniards had to re-embark.
The new fortress was erected by the Turks a few months after this attack to ward off further attempts. Called Anavarin, the fort was designed to guard the entrance of the natural harbor, while in the second natural entrance (north of Sphacteria) the Turks dumped enough boulders and stones to prevent passage to large vessels. For the next 113 years (until 1686), the magnificent bay of Navarino enjoyed absolute peace until the return of the Venetians...
05/11/2021
A MOUNTAIN ROAD OF THE NORTHERN TAYGETOS MOUNTAIN RANGE YESTERDAY ☀️🌲🌲🌲
05/11/2021
PERFECTION: SUNSET ON THE MESSENIAN BAY WITH 27° C TONIGHT
☀️🌙
26/09/2021
FREEDOM: AT 800 M ABOVE THE MESSENIAN GULF THIS AFTERNOON!
02/09/2021
PORTO VITILO, MANI PENINSULA, THIS NOON
The Apidima caves are located under the mountain in the background. Inside were discovered the remains of the earliest homo sapiens in Eurasia (210,000 years old).
-Make you cultural reservations with us in advance as this season tourists are back in Greece, and in large numbers! 🌊🌊⛵️🏖
27/08/2021
GREECE NEEDS URGENT ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND RADICAL CHANGE OF ATTITUDE
Every year, more forest areas are destroyed in Greece, and trees are never replanted. Because, to say the truth, not many people care. Attica, which was a heaven until just a few decades ago, is now barren and ravaged by the action of the inhabitants motivated by only one thing — greed.
After Attica, growing human pressure on natural spaces, forests, littorals and mountains in turn devastated most of the ecosystem in the rest of the country, wiping out all form of wildlife in the process. In Greece, it seems animals have only value if they can be hunted for "sport" and eaten in a taverna with friends and family. Many dogs, often used as mere tools to keep away thieves, spend their entire miserable existence enchained or in a cage. People run over cats and dogs without remorse.
The number of animal species that has been wiped out already is staggering. The last Mediterranean monk seals are being butchered as you read these lines, because some fishermen consider them as nuisance.
While hunters and motorcyclists roam the remaining natural spaces carelessly, there is not one trail, one pathway that is not desecrated by tons of empty plastic and glass bottles, beer cans, ci******es, plastic recipients of coffee, spent ammunition, rusting abandoned vehicles... and a thousand other types of junk and rubbish literally everywhere. How difficult is it to keep one's rubbish until finding a trash can seriously?
Some of the arsonists are full-blown criminals, who intend to replace "protected" forest areas with yet more villas "to let" or other hideous real estate projects. But most of the time, the wildfires are started by sheer negligence: By drivers throwing the ashes of their ci******es by the windows of their cars or motorbikes, or by shards of discarded glass bottles reflecting the sun. The authors couldn't care less about the consequences... unless of course the wildfire eventually reaches their own land.
This monumental disaster has to stop now, and for that, everyone in Greece has to be fully aware of the extent of this shameful catastrophe.
This means we need to stop to shift responsibility on “foreigners” coming “on purpose” in Greece to start fires (sadly, a widespread myth!) or on the climate. That implies assuming full responsibility, implementing a real environmental policy at a national and regional level, and educating the children with a deep respect of the environment and the ecosystem that is non-existent in Greece to this day.
Hopefully, future generations may grow up with a devoted attachment to their land, with a real conscience and understanding of the fragility of its natural heritage!
SHARE THIS POST! LET'S IMPACT AS MANY PEOPLE AS WE CAN! LET'S END THE DESTRUCTION OF GREECE'S NATURAL ENVIRONMENT!
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