Greece 5: The Mani

Jeffrey Siger is an American crime writer who spends part of the year in Greece and writes about an Athenian police detective.  I told him about our itinerary and asked which of his novels we should read for background.  He recommended Sons of Sparta, which is set in the Mani (and I recommend it too).  

There are three little peninsulas at the south end of the Peloponnese and the Mani is the middle finger, geographically and also figuratively, you might say.  It has a certain reputation. When we arrived in the Maniot town of Areopoli, one of our tour guides solemnly told us: "The Mani is famous for vendettas, so please be very polite.  We don't want to start any blood feuds."  But our other guide replied: "You are being more than usually stupid."  So take that with a grain of salt.

But maybe not too much salt.  The statue you see here was right in front of our hotel in Areopoli. It commemorates Petrobey Mavromichalis, the Maniot who started the Greek War of Independence.  Ten years later, his brother and nephew assassinated the first Greek head of state, Ioannis Kapodistria.  (We walked past the site of the killing every day to get to our hotel in Nafpoli.)

Interesting place, the Mani...

This next picture may not look like much but don't be fooled. I took this at Taenarum (or Tenaron) near the end of the Mani Peninsula, the southernmost point of mainland Greece, and that cave on the right is the entrance to Hades. It was from here that Hercules descended to bring back Cerberus, the three headed dog, and here that Orpheus went in search of his lost love Eurydice. So show some respect.

A really cool place we visited was the Caves of Diros. These are huge flooded caverns that you travel through in flat boats with a gondolier pushing from the back. At some points you have to duck under stalactites, in others the ceiling is like a cathedral. I didn't take any pictures in the caves but you can see some at the site above.

Next Stop: Messene