The Peninsulas of the Peloponnese

As suggested by the title of this post, I am going to give you a brief geography lesson of the Peloponnese. (If nothing else, we learn a ton of geography in our travels.) The Peloponnese is a peninsula, naturally attached to the mainland of Greece by a land bridge near Corinth (west of Athens). Well, technically since the building of the Corinth Canal, (more on that in a future post) it’s an island, but let’s not quibble. Further, the Peloponnese peninsula has four south-pointing peninsulas of its own, Messenia, Mani, Epidaurus Limera and Argolid. These peninsulas jut out into various seas, the Ionian, the Mediterranean and the Aegean. On a map, they look like fingers, or cow udders. For the next few stops on our journey, we mostly traveled the udders, rather than the interior of the country. Let’s take a romp through the a couple of peninsulas on the Peloponnese, shall we?

FINIKOUNDA (MESSENIA)

During our time at Camping Ionion Beach we had a few days with rain and wind, but mostly just cold, which makes it hard to get excited about a walk on the beach or sitting outside for happy hour and a sunset. We actually timed our departure from there so that we would have a sunny day for our visit to Ancient Olympia. Even so, when we had a late lunch sitting outside at the Katakolo Port, Steven retrieved a blanket from Bijou so I could cover up while we ate. It was cold, man!

When we left the port we had a beautiful travel day, but more cold and rainy days were just around the corner. We love to boondock in sunny weather, especially at marinas, but there is nothing more depressing than being stuck inside having to manage dwindling solar power on a crappy day. So we rearranged our destinations a bit and headed straight to Camping Thines in Finikounda, on the westernmost peninsula, Messenia.

This is a well-liked campground, which might have been better in sunnier weather, but during our stay it was overcast and rainy, so mostly it just seemed drab. We were just across from the sea, but even that seemed uninviting. We took the opportunity to catch up on stuff, some cleaning, organizing, bills and a blog post. Absolutely nothing exciting. We walked into the little town of Finikounda, which is probably pretty lively during the summer, but was mostly shut when we walked through. There was a brand new grocery store that was loaded with great stuff, lots of dairy, fresh meats and veggies and a bakery with tray after tray of delicious looking pastries. They even had all the lights turned on which is a rarity in Greece (and elsewhere) since the price of electricity has recently skyrocketed. The only thing missing was shoppers. When we walked in, about eight employees snapped to attention ready to assist. It was a bit Twilight Zone-ish.

At this point, to be honest, we were still looking to find the charm of the Peloponnese. As I have mentioned before, it is difficult to tell if the lack of people is typical for this time of year, or if we are still seeing the effects of a pandemic winter. Greece is particularly stringent with Covid rules. We are required to mask up whenever we are in public, whether inside a shop or outside touring ruins. We must show proof of vaccines, including the booster, when we eat at a restaurant, even if we sit outside. Some campgrounds ask for our vaccine cards as well, but not all of them. We are always happy to comply with the mask mandate, but when we are the only people walking around a place outside, like Ancient Olympia, we usually just keep our masks close by in our pockets.

PYLOS (MESSENIA)

After three days at Camping Thines the sun finally made an appearance, so we made a beeline for the marina in Pylos. We passed by the Methoni Castle and stopped for a couple of photos before moving on to Pylos. We parked up facing the west, anticipating a beautiful sunset, and we were not disappointed. What a glorious day! Pylos was the kind of town we were hoping to find, lots of locals buzzing around, just going about their daily lives, every shop open for business, folks sitting in the park enjoying a coffee. It was such a pleasure to see so much activity!

We stopped into a little boating/camping store right on the main street to get a couple of fuses. The guy was so outgoing and friendly, and he poured us a cup of fresh orange, locally grown. My gosh, it was delicious! Of course, the countryside is covered in orange trees, all heavy with ripe fruit. Tis the season for freshly squeezed OJ!

In Greece there are three coffee shops for every adult, or so it seems. The Greek love their coffee but we had yet to try one, so while enjoying our day out in Pylos, we set out to remedy that first world problem. We apparently didn’t make ourselves clear, because what we ended up with was a weak and uninspired latte. There had to be more to it than this, so we vowed to do a little more research so we could order properly.

On the way back to Bijou we stopped off at a restaurant to try a gyros sandwich. Wow, what a flavor-packed yumfest wrapped in a grilled pita! The menu listed three sizes and since we started with a Greek salad (more on this later…) we opted for the small size. It was still huge, but we ate every bite!

What a fantastic day in Pylos! And just as we had hoped, the sunset really put on a show right out Bijou’s front window.

KALAMATA (SITUATED BETWEEN MESSENIA & MANI)

Olives, anyone?

The drive from Pylos to Kalamata was only 50 kilometers, about 31 miles, but it took well over an hour to get there due to squiggly switchbacks and tiny villages we had to slow down to drive through. There used to be a great place to park at the Kalamata marina, but after days of searching, we could hardly find mention of it. We finally sent an email directly to the marina office to inquire about camping and received a reply saying it was no longer allowed. Waaaah! I had really been looking forward to staying here for a few days, but it seems the place closed to campers in the last couple of years. There are few places to stay right in town, so we settled on parking on a little beach, which was €5. We had a lovely view but no services, which was fine because the weather was looking up!

We took off in search of olives, which you would think we’d find on just about every street corner, but nay. The only place that had the lovely Kalamata olives were the tourist shops. Well, that’s not true. You can buy them in just about every grocery store in Greece (and elsewhere in the world) but we wanted to buy Kalamata olives in Kalamata. We wanted them because we have begun to make our own Greek salads, which has become our favorite.

What do they call “Greek Salad” in Greece? Sounds like a trick question, right? On the menus in Greece where tourists eat, it is called Greek Salad, but it is actually Horiatiki or Greek village salad. The main ingredients are hunks of tomatoes (not sliced or diced, hunks), sliced cucumbers, strips of green bell peppers, slices red onion and a few olives, preferably Kalamata. These lovely veggies are then tossed with a dressing made with olive oil and a bit of lemon or vinegar. On top, add a large rectangle of Feta cheese. This is important. Large rectangle, or maybe two triangles. Chunks are acceptable, if not preferable, but absolutely NO feta sprinkles. Finally, add a dash of oregano and perhaps another dash of olive oil you’ve got yourself a delicious and authentic Greek salad. What do you not see in that salad recipe? Lettuce. There is no lettuce of any kind in an authentic Greek salad. No lettuce. No feta sprinkles.

It was during our stay in Kalamata that we finally got to try a Freddo Cappuccino, one of the most popular coffee drinks in all of Greece. Actually, there are three popular cold coffee drinks, Frappe, Freddo Espresso and Freddo Cappuccino. The frappe is made with instant coffee and sugar, if desired, then shaken to within an inch of its life. It should be super creamy with coffee foam. The Freddo Espresso is hot espresso shots poured over ice, and sugar if desired, then shaken to within an inch of its life. It is also foamy. The Freddo Cappuccino is exactly the same only it is topped off with the creamiest cold foam I have ever seen. It has the consistency of whipped cream, but it isn’t. The one we had was made with condensed milk and it was amazing. The key to making this drink is having the proper equipment, which is a tall drink mixer that looks like the one used to make milkshakes. That’s how they get such fantastic foamy goodness to put on the chilled espresso. I have tried every which way to make that foam and nothing we have in Bijou works as well as that milkshake mixer. I want one of those but Steven is holding out. We’ll see.

Kalamata was a great town to explore, busy and vibrant. We got our olives, olive oil and a lifetime supply of Greek oregano. If we had been able to stay at the marina, we would have stayed longer, but we decided to move on to our next destination, Camping Mani on the Mani peninsula.

And finally, a real time update: I got new sunglasses! I contacted the guy and told him the glasses he had made for me were not working out, so he agreed to make a new pair of lenses and ship them to his associate in Athens. We picked them up yesterday and they are so much better! I am a happy camper.

And of course, this post would not be complete without including new artwork from Steven. This time he is tackling the tried and true still life. You can keep up with what he is doing by following his Visual Art page here.

Up Next: More udders!

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