Kardamyli or Kardamili, seat of the Municipality of West Mani, is a seaside village, which is 38 km south east of Kalamata. It has been characterized by the Ministry of Culture as a landscape of special natural beauty because it is a remarkable natural landscape with rich vegetation which includes characteristic samples of the evolution of the Mani house and as a historical landscape, due to its importance for the history of architecture and in general for Greek history, because its land, inhabited from prehistoric times to the present day, is rich in monuments of all times and its history is rich in facts. Just a few meters separate the old town from the new one.
The name "Kardamyli" is mentioned for the first time in the years of Homer and is mentioned in the Iliad (I 150) as the first of the "seven favored and well-inhabited cities" that Agamemnon would give a dowry to Achilles if he married one of his daughters. Later it was named "Skardamoula", while in recent years the ancient name prevailed again.
In Kardamili, refugees from Mystras took refuge after its destruction
in 1460 (who took refuge in caves from there and the name Troupakides),
while in it Theodoros Kolokotronis together with other Maniat
chieftains, planned the revolution of 1821.
Below the medieval
castle of the 12th century and near the upper Kardamili, are the
Hellenistic chamber tombs of "Dioskouros", designated as a Historic
Preserved Monument, by decision of the Ministry of Culture. The
Mourtzinos - Troupakis Fortress complex is extremely noteworthy, which
was donated in 1967 to the Greek State by its owners Maria and Eleni
Boukouvalea, heirs of the Mourtzinos, in order to house a Classical,
Byzantine and Folklore Museum. In 1994 it was declared as a historical
monument. In 2000, the process of granting possession, use and
management of the complex to the Ministry of the Interior began. Between
1999 and 2004, the restoration of its part, which includes the
three-story fortified residence and its additions, was completed and its
conversion into a Museum.
The Ministry of Culture, by its
decisions, has designated the following as Historical Preserved
Monuments:
Guard (Observatory) Dimitreon, Church of Agios Ioannis,
Church of St. Nicholas Fort Complex, Holy Monastery of Transfiguration
Sotiros, Church of Hagia Sophia, Church of Agios Spyridonos, Kamara -
Dekoulou, Church of Agioi, Agios Theodoros (current parish), Kostopoulos
Tower, Lymberea Tower, Patriarch's Tower, Fundea Tower, Ancient
Acropolis, Petraea Tower, Cemetery, Agios Nikolaos Church, Faneromeni
Monastery, Karavelis or Strititsiou Monastery.
Perched in the arms of a windless creek, with the stone houses and
tiled roofs that you are used to in the mountains and not on the beaches
of the Peloponnese, Kardamili is the joy of the walker and the would-be
photographer. Every walk through its alleys reveals another detail you
hadn't noticed, another flowery groove, another nice view of a pebbly
creek or a patch of sunny olive grove.
A stone-built path starts
from the center of the village to bring you in less than 10 minutes to
Old Kardamili, this wonderfully silent, restored historic settlement
dominated by maniac towers and stone-built churches. A special place
here is the impressive Tower of Mourtzinos, the last raging captain,
dating from the 17th century. A rare case of a maniac tower that can be
visited, it now functions as a museum, and promises to teach you
everything you always wanted to know (but had no one to ask) about
maniac tower houses, their spaces and functions, but – above all – the
strange and complex social system of the Maniats, their division into
clans and how this division affected and shaped their settlements and
homes.
Directly across from Kardamyli, the small green islet is
called Meropi and is so close to it that keen swimmers can easily swim
here to explore the remains of the fortification, which was probably
built in the 18th century, as well as the small stone church of Agios
Nikolaos which is located here.
The Messinian Mani begins where Taygetos plunges its feet into the
sea - and Kardamili is the point where its last gorge, that of Byros,
ends. Not by chance, the ancient Royal Road connecting Ancient Sparta
with the port of Kardamila passed through this 19 km long gorge. You
will see remnants of it scattered here and there crossing the canyon,
which is crossed by many hiking trails of varying degrees of difficulty,
if you are not brave enough to walk it all. If, again, you are, it would
be wise not to start it from Kardamili, but from its other end, Agios
Panteleimons perched at 1,400 meters, to follow a downhill route passing
through the Vasiliki Forest and end up in Kardamyli.
Hanging like
small balconies on the verdant slopes of Taygetos, the mountain villages
of Western Mani are worth as much of your time as you can devote to
them, to gaze at their imposing stone tower houses, to walk on their
cobblestone streets or just to enjoy the time passing by late in their
traditional cafes.
Exohori is ideal for tours of the previously
mentioned gorge and the Vasiliki Forest that spreads out at its feet. On
the way from Exochori to the forest, you will come across the Samouil
Monastery, or Samoili, an impressive, although abandoned castle
monastery of the 17th century. The legend says that a maniac monk
practiced here who later fled to Epirus, where he became the well-known
monk Samuel of Souli. In better condition, the newer – although also
abandoned – castle monastery of Vaidenitsa is preserved near it, which
enjoys a panoramic view of the ridges of Taygetos and the sea.
Tseria is a beautiful pocket village with a spectacular view of the
gorge, half hidden behind the dense vegetation that embraces it. Saidona
enjoys a picture-postcard sunset, while the more remote Kastania (14 km
from Kardamyli) is a feast for the eyes with its 12th century Byzantine
churches, the characteristic stone roofs of its houses and its stone
fountain under the huge walnuts. Here dominates the imposing
18th-century Pyrgos Durakis Tower, where Theodoros Kolokotronis found
refuge in 1803 against the persecution of thieves, who eventually
escaped from here to Elafonissos.
You will meet another
impressive castle on the road that goes from Kardamili to Kalamata, near
the village of Stavropigio. It is called Castle of Zarnata, it was built
by the Byzantines (however, as you see it today, it is Ottoman) and was
one of the four great castles of Mani. Today its walls are preserved,
and an imposing stone tower 15 meters high at its highest point.
And just when you say that this corner of the Peloponnese can't get
any better, you start exploring its beaches - and you discover that it
can. From the famous sandy beach of Kalogria in Stoupa, with its beach
bars and youthful atmosphere, to the thousands-photographed Foneas, with
its unreal emerald waters, large all-white pebbles and the giant rock
that offers for diving from above, the difficult thing here is to you
decide where to dive first.
If you don't want to move away from
Kardamili, apart from Foneas which is only 4 kilometers away, the pebbly
Ritsa, actually inside the village, with its crystal clear waters and
the large area that leaves room for everyone, sunbathers and sunbathers,
is also a wonderful choice. . Closer to Foneas (a little less than a
kilometer, to be precise) the less impressive but also less cosmopolitan
Delphinia also has clear waters, fine pebbles, a view of an amazing
sunset and an organization that shines by its absence.
Families
with small children especially love the large, organized beach of Stoupa
(7 kilometers from Kardamili, right in front of the settlement of the
same name) for its crystal clear, shallow and warm waters and the fluffy
sand that is perfect for building castles . Above the Stoupa, on the
hill of the Frankish castle of Leufktro, built by William Villeardouinos
in 1250, almost nothing remains - apart from the nice view of the
village and the sea, which might tempt you to follow the characteristic
brown signs That's enough.
A Kindergarten, Middle School and High School operate in the area. It also has a Citizen Service Center (CSC), a Police Department and a Regional Clinic.