Visiting Fortresses / Forts / Castles in July... de la folie...
Knotty Girl
Tanya/Roberto
Mon 2 Aug 2021 19:51
Visiting forts - or I should more accurately say ruins of them in the Peloponnese is easy as there relatively plenty of them in that part of the coast.
The challenge is however when to visit them given the heat end of July. We decided to visit those places in the evening - namely around 7 pm and even then, it was very hot and humid !!! However very worth it ! In particular we visited the Fortress of Pylos, the one of Methoni and that of Koroni.
The Pylos fort was originally built by the Venetians and added to by the Turks. It has an impressive mosque which now serves as a church inside its walls. It is very impressive to see it from the sea.
In Methoni, a very impressive venetian fort and Turkish tower is in sight from the bay / anchorage we were in. The sun coming down on it was breath taking ! We also went to the “Sapientza” restaurant know for its “cuisine come à la maison” and indeed, we were asked to literally go into the kitchen to select our dinner - from 4 different homemade recipies and held by generations of 1 family - we could see them all, including an about 8 years boy running the place. Very nice experience !
The Venetians thought that the headland of Koroni represented a great site for a fort to be build to defend their trade route around the Peloponnisos. The Fort is currently mostly occupied by an active monastery.
After a very nice crossing - sailing with “vent de travers” for about 3 hours we arrived in the harbour of Kalamata around 3 pm and it was a long time we had not come into a harbour and we know why…. it was about 40 degrees when we arrived, NO FUN - LUCKILY we were able to quickly tie to electricity and run the air conditioning to cool down. We are welcoming new guests tomorrow and needed to go grocery shopping - but not before 7pm said Tanya !!
