KARDAMYLI AND THE MANI PENINSULA
Anestis drove us to an incredibly beautiful seaside town called Kardamyli. Whenever I picture myself living in Greece this is where I would be! We checked into the Hotel Esperides where Pat and I had a suite type room. There was a sitting area, a small kitchenette and a bedroom with a balcony. The hotel had a cozy courtyard in the back where we ate breakfast every day and people gathered to socialize. There was this pretty red gate leading out of the courtyard.
The night was free for dinner but David was kind enough to let us tag along with him to a restaurant where we could sit at tables outside along the sea. That was the night I first tried octopus as seen on the right. I was surprised that it tasted so good!
The next day was also free but again David offered to lead those of us who wanted to go on a hike. Another piece of knowledge that David has is about plants in Greece so he would stop here and there and explain about different plants which I found very interesting since I am a gardener. He also led us to Old Kardamyli which was a neat place. Click on the arrow for the slideshow below to see what we saw before, during and after the hike.
After lunch Pat and I went for a walk along the beach. I was intrigued by the layers of color in the water which I think was caused by the varying depth. There were also some smooth rounded rocks along the beach. We found a couple of lounge chairs on the beach and enjoyed the views for a couple of minutes.
Behind us were the most picturesque mountains with shapely cumulus clouds behind it. I kept shooting photos of them expecting them to change. They did a little.
Next we did some more exploring in town. We stopped in a nice shop on the main drag and the owner asked immediately if we were with David's tour. When we told her we were, she gushed on about him. I told you everyone loves him!
Later in the afternoon David took us to meet Yiannis Dimitreas- an Australian Greek living in town. In his shop we did some olive tasting and he explained about things he was making with natural products. I bought some cream he made for a friend at home who has Eczema. A coaster made from an olive tree was also purchased by me.
Click below to see a slideshow of some of the highlights in beautiful Kardamyli.
Behind us were the most picturesque mountains with shapely cumulus clouds behind it. I kept shooting photos of them expecting them to change. They did a little.
Next we did some more exploring in town. We stopped in a nice shop on the main drag and the owner asked immediately if we were with David's tour. When we told her we were, she gushed on about him. I told you everyone loves him!
Later in the afternoon David took us to meet Yiannis Dimitreas- an Australian Greek living in town. In his shop we did some olive tasting and he explained about things he was making with natural products. I bought some cream he made for a friend at home who has Eczema. A coaster made from an olive tree was also purchased by me.
Click below to see a slideshow of some of the highlights in beautiful Kardamyli.
Early the next morning we had a scrumptious breakfast at our hotel and then our bus headed to hilly Kastania. It was another sunny, beautiful day! This place was even quieter than Kardamyli and that was a treat for a Sunday morning. Anestis let us off since there was no place to park the bus and David led us up the hill to see the sights. This town is a hoot because it is so casual. Apparently a key is left outside a church and David knows where the key is kept. This older woman dressed in black kept passing us and spoke to David in Greek about whether or not he wanted her to open the church for us. Since he knew where the key was kept, that was not necessary. But she hung around and kept talking to David and then he would talk to us and she wanted to know what he was saying to us. She was quite a comical, upbeat woman looking for some action in a town with not much going on. Take a look at the slideshow of Kastania below by clicking on "play".
Check out the delicious fish!
After the fun in Kastania, we headed to a little fishing village for lunch. We sat at tables outside admiring the idyllic setting Our lunch was excellent and we got to have more octopus and fresh fish also. When lunch was finished we had some time to venture through the town. I took more photos which you can view in a slideshow below. Can you tell I like to take lots of pictures and show them in a slideshow format?
We continued on our way to Monemvasia. Click here to see another one of my favorite places on the trip.