Intrepid Travels

We left Kalamata on a clear, sunny, windless and already hot Friday morning and headed south east along the Eastern side of the Messinian Gulf. Dropping anchor at Ak Kitries, just 5 miles away, gave us a chance to drink in more priceless scenery and we had coffee watching the locals carry on as if we were invisible (an old, deaf man on an outing with his daughter and son; a local pensioner whiling away the hours casting his line into the water off the quayside tavern (and catching a few fish too), a few young lads getting their dinghy out for the day; and a dog watching over it all from his rooftop yard).
Once again, the wind toyed with us as we headed south. We sailed and motored and sailed again and finally reached Port Limeni, another wonderful natural harbour. By this time the scenery had changed dramatically and we both remarked on similarities with the Pilbara. This is Mani country, a mountainous, parched and dramatic peninsular, where the people have ruled themselves for centuries and have their own unique culture. No invading forces were able to govern them successfully and all eventually gave up trying and left the Mani to their own devices. The Maniot villages are made out of the local grey stone and are quite distinctive and different from any other Greek architecture. None of the blue and white ‘Mykonos’ buildings here!