Messinia
A dive in beauty and... in History
Once upon a time, thousands of years ago, a very old but very wise king started from Messinia to go to Troy.
Without his help, many younger men wouldn’t have returned home. Eventually, however, they lived happily ever after. And although this comes as a surprise, this was not a fairytale. It was absolutely true, and so was his palace that we found it where he left it three and a half thousands years ago. At Egliano in Messinia.
Just like Nestor, and the entire Trojan War, was a myth to people for thousands of years, so is Messinia. Sometimes it is hard to believe that there can actually exist so much beauty: The perfect sand semicircle of Voidokilia Beach, the fifteen successive blue lakes of Polymnio, the sun diving in the sea as it looks from the Kiparissia Castle, the Neda waterfalls, the colorful mosaics that stand tall for millennia in the theatre of ancient Messini.
Capital and biggest city of Messinia, Kalamata is a beautiful, vibrating city that has the odor of summer throughout the year. However, Messinia is not just a summer destination- even though, we have to admit, it probably has the best beaches of the entire Peloponnese. It is wonderful in autumn, when the forests at the southern outskirts of Taygetos Mt. are painted golden red with the colors of the sunset.
It is perfect in spring, when the gorges are filled with flowers and its archaeological sites bathe in the sun light. It is gorgeous in winter too, not an actual winter here though, but more like a different version of autumn.
The local cuisine is one of the tastiest in the entire Peloponnese. The olive oil of Kalamata is famous throughout Greece, while the prefecture’s local products include not only plenty of citrus fruit, unique handmade pasta, pure honey, cheese, the famous “sfela” cheese, and figs, but also sausages, siglino (smoked pork cut), and of course the famous “gournopoula” (roast suckling pig), the trademark of the Messinian cuisine. They are all necessarily served with exquisite Messinian wine… and life is good.
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