Kardamili (Greek: Καρδαμύλη, variously transliterated as Kardamyle, Cardamyle, Kardhamili, and Kardamyli, and sometimes called “Skardamoula”, especially on old maps) is a town by the sea thirty-five kilometers southeast of Kalamata. It is the seat of the municipality of Lefktro in the region of Messenia on the Mani Peninsula.
In the Iliad (Book 9 [2]), Homer cites Kardamili as one of the seven cities offered by Agamemnon to Achilles as a condition to rejoin the fight during the Trojan War. The village preserves its ancient name.
The area is filled with beaches: Ritsa, Belogianni, Salio, Tikla, Amoni, Santava. The older town includes a mediaeval castle and outworks, and the imposing church of Saint Spyridon. Many of the buildings of Old Kardamili, also known as “Pano Kardamili”, or “Upper Kardamili” were built by the Venetians and feature a mix of traditional Greek and Venetian design. The skyline of Kardamyli, like many other Maniot towns and villages, is dominated by the distinctive regional architectural of the various towers built by scions of the Nikliani clans, the mediaeval aristocracy of the Mani.
Kardamyli is the departure point of many mountain trails, some of which lead to the peak of Mount Taygetus. Kardamili is known in the area for having an especially good view of Mount Taygetus, known locally as the “Profitis Ilias”, literally translating to “Prophet Elias”. Nearby is the Viros Gorge, with a total length of 20 km. The Viros Gorge remains bone dry in summer, however it is known to flood heavily in winter, when snow melts on the mountains and rain falls in heavy downpours. Further afield, one may visit Oitylo, Areopoli and the Diros caverns.
The village of Kalamitsi, just outside Kardamili was, in his later years, the principal home of Patrick Leigh Fermor and his wife Joan. Patrick was an English writer who was made an honorary citizen of the village for his participation in the Greek Resistance during World War II, especially in Crete. He died in hospital in 2011 the day after returning to his other home in Dumbleton in England.
The ashes of the writer Bruce Chatwin were scattered near a Byzantine chapel above the village in 1989.
Stoupa (Greek: Στούπα) is a village on the coast of the southern Peloponnese peninsula in Greece. It is part of the community of Neochori within the municipal unit of West Mani, in Messenia and the historic region of Mani Peninsula.
Once a sleepy little town, in the past few years more and more tourists have discovered Stoupa. There are about 20 restaurants lining the road along the beach, a few small hotels, and many rental houses. Besides Greek tourists, who come mostly in August, British and German, as well as Dutch, French and Italian tourists visit in the summer season.
In the past, the Mani area was known for its fierce inhabitants, who lived in isolated fortified towers (some of which are still present today, either in ruins or having been restored). The towers offered protection in an area where feuding was commonplace.
Stoupa also has rich cultural history. It is where the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis travelled to with George Zorbas who Kazantzakis employed as the foreman of his lignite mine, the entrance to which can still be seen in a hillside nearby. It is their time together in Stoupa that the novel Zorba the Greek is based upon, written after hearing news of Zorba’s death. There is a bust of Nikos Kazantzakis on the cliff overlooking Kalogria beach, at the corner of the main road and the beach approach. Stoupa is just 7 km away from the historic area of Kardamyli, which is mentioned in work by Homer.
The Mani Peninsula (Greek: Μάνη, romanized: Mánē), also long known by its medieval name Maina or Maïna (Μαΐνη), is a geographical and cultural region in southern Greece that is home to the Maniots (Mανιάτες, Maniátes in Greek), who claim descent from the ancient Spartans. The capital cities of Mani are Gytheio and Areopoli. Mani is the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf. The Mani peninsula forms a continuation of the Taygetos mountain range, the western spine of the Peloponnese.
Neolithic remains have been found in many caves along the Mani coasts, including the Alepotrypa Cave.[3] Homer refers to a number of towns in the Mani region, and some artifacts from the Mycenaean period (1900 BC – 1100 BC) have been found. The area was occupied by the Dorians in about 1200 BC, and became a dependency of Sparta. After Spartan power was destroyed in the 3rd century BC, Mani remained self-governing.
As the power of the Byzantine Empire declined, the peninsula drifted out of the Empire’s control. The fortress of Maini in the south became the area’s centre. Over the subsequent centuries, the peninsula was fought over by the Byzantines, the Franks, and the Saracens.
After the Fourth Crusade in 1204 AD, Italian and French knights (known collectively by the Greeks as Franks) occupied the Peloponnese and created the Principality of Achaea. They built the fortresses of Mystras, Passavas, Gustema (Beaufort), and Great Maina. The area fell under Byzantine rule after 1262, forming part of the Despotate of the Morea.
In 1460, after the fall of Constantinople, the Despotate fell to the Ottomans. Mani was not subdued and retained its internal self-government in exchange for an annual tribute, although this was only paid once. Local chieftainsor beys governed Mani on behalf of the Ottomans.
The first of these was Limberakis Gerakaris in the 17th century. A former oarsman in the Venetian fleet turned pirate, he was captured by the Ottomans and condemned to death. The Grand Vizier pardoned him, on condition that he took over control of Mani as an Ottoman agent. Gerakaris accepted, using the opportunity to carry out his feud with the strong Maniot family of the Stephanopouloi: he besieged their seat at Oitylo, captured 35 of them, and had them executed. During his twenty-year reign, he shifted allegiance between the Venetians and the Turks.
As Ottoman power declined, the mountains of the Mani became a stronghold of the klephts, bandits who also fought against the Ottomans. There is also evidence of a sizeable Maniot emigration to Corsica sometime during the Ottoman years. Petros Mavromichalis, the last bey of Mani, was among the leaders of the Greek War of Independence. He proclaimed the revolution at Areopoli on March 17, 1821. The Maniots contributed greatly to the struggle, but once Greek independence was won, they wanted to retain local autonomy. During the reign of Ioannis Kapodistrias, they violently resisted outside interference, to the extent of Mavromichalis killing Kapodistrias.
In 1878 the national government reduced the local autonomy of the Mani, and the area gradually became a backwater; inhabitants abandoned the land through emigration, with many going to major Greek cities, as well as to western Europe and the United States. It was not until the 1970s, when the construction of new roads supported the growth of the tourist industry, that the Mani began to regain population and become prosperous.