Wednesday 11th May
We drove a mere 18 miles today into the Mani with the austere stone tower houses nestling in the mountainsides, not the white painted houses with blue shutters that are usually associated with the Greek countryside. There wasn't too much to entertain us for another day at Aghios Nikolaos so we set off this morning heading to Neo Itylo, another coastal village that we stopped at a couple of years ago. Last time we were here we stopped just off the main road next to the shingle beach but we had noticed that a restaurant a mile or so around the bay had provided a parking space for motorhomes (36.69598 22.37817). You have to drive past the restaurant on the single track road to get to the parking place and as you do so the owner comes out and welcomes you, tells you where to park and points at the sign telling everybody that his restaurant has the best food in the Mani! It's just a patch of gravel with no facilities but there's water from the tap outside the restaurant and the guy's not daft. We and probably most other folk would be embarrassed to stop here without patronising his business and so after filling up with water and parking up we duly walked back to sample "The best food in the Mani"
"Welcome, welcome! My mother makes the best Tzatziki and cheese pies, my brothers catch fresh fish this morning" There were other options on the menu but we took his advice. Ok, a cheese pie is a cheese pie but considering there are only three basic ingredients to Tzatziki it's amazing how it varies from restaurant to restaurant; his mother's was a good one! The plate of mixed fried fish was also delicious and the complementary fruit in honey and a Greek coffee finished things off nicely.
There's a short jetty a few metres from where we are parked so after a cheeky siesta I thought I might try and catch our supper. As I keep telling Phil - fishing isn't always about catching fish and that proved to be the case again today. I suspect I would have been successful but unfortunately a thunderstorm drove me to the shelter of our home on wheels. There's always tomorrow morning though.
Views from the restaurant:
Thursday 12th May.
After yesterday's exhausting drive today we managed all of six miles, rising 300 metres, to arrive in Areopoli, the main town of Laconia in the Mani. Our plan was to stop here, have a wander around, a coffee and then set off for Kotronas on the other side of the peninsula. But I've been having problems with the handbrake, basically it won't hold on a slope, and that's not good. We parked up in the car park here and just round the corner is a garage, I explained the problem and the guy said the mechanic would be back tomorrow morning and he would have a look then. So we'll spend tonight here (36.66769 22.38254). The car park has a cafe (thanks for the WiFi), a bus station, a school with basketball courts and a flipping great hole where they're excavating for goodness knows what. The lass in the cafe doesn't speak too much English but she directed us to the guy in the bus station who said we were welcome to stop as long as we liked, he would be here from 7am till 7pm and he would keep an eye on the van. To be fair, I'd be happy to wander round the town leaving all the doors and windows open and have no qualms but his concern was appreciated. We always ask when we use a car park or similar for an overnight stop and here in Greece we've never been refused.
Bus station and cafe:
Areopoli is a town with different quarters (thirds?). The outskirts are a little bit scruffy, the centre is pretty with a square bordered by cafes and shops and then the older part, an ancient fortified settlement, has narrow granite paved streets and the distinctive field stone built tower houses. It was here that the Greek War of Independence was started in 1821 and there are plenty of reminders of this fact in the town. For a town named after Ares, the Greek god of war, this seems appropriate.
Some pics of Areopoli:
The bakery still with a wood fired oven:
Some traditional houses:
Churches:
Used in the war of independence maybe?
This explains all:
Pedestrians only:
So tomorrow I will present the van to the garage and see what can be done "The mechanic starts work at 8.30 so maybe turn up at 9". But this is Greece and 9am is more of a guide than a definate booking. We are parked on the level tonight so things, as always, are good.
Pat
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