My husband and I are taking a Rick Steves' Tour in May in Greece, and his itinerary has Mani as our "vacation away from vacation."
Since we will be hiking so much during the rest of the tour, I don't think we will want to do a lot of hiking that day, and we are not beach people. Any suggestions as to what we could do that day that is interesting? We are senior citizens, by the way.
Posted by
Nanaimo, BC, Canada
1366 posts
Is that the only description? The Mani is full of amazing sites and its way too big to do in a day. If you can find out where the trip is taking you we can provide you with our thoughts on the actual destination.
Posted by
OP
21 posts
I'm afraid so. I'm using the description of the itinerary, and it calls it "Seaside Discoveries." We sleep on the Mani Peninsula. It's after Ancient Olympia. I don't know if that helps or not! I may just have to wait.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11150 posts
When we did that Tour, we stayed in Kardamyli. ( Hotel Esperides and Apartments)
If you are in some other town, what follows won't apply.
On the off day we meandered the shops in town and took a leisurely walk to the Mourtzinos Tower.
Did laundry after breakfast before we set out on our wanderings. Dry clean clothes when we got back and had a nice dinner at a waterfront restaurant . Don't recall the name, but pretty sure it was in the guide book. Or ask the guide for suggestions.
Posted by
RIchmond, BC,Canada
849 posts
I did this tour in April and loved it. The stop you are referring to is the town of Kardamyli. It’s not a very big town, but I quite enjoyed it. Some of our group did go to the beach, but it was still a little cold for swimming. Several of us went to the old walled town and explored the tower houses etc, and some of us then hiked up the goat trails to a small church at the top. The views were terrific, but the hike was quite rocky and uneven so be prepared with the right foot ware, and lots of water as it was hot and took about an hour and a half. You could just go part way up for the view, it really is worth it. If you google the town you will find a page on it from Matt Barrett’s Greece site.
Posted by
Nanaimo, BC, Canada
1366 posts
If I had to guess I would have suggested that the overnight would be in Kardamili. It is surrounded by mountains but is right on the Sea. Its a perfect location for an overnight during a drive through the Mani. You do not have to do much walking while there as its built up area is right at the shore.
I suspect you will be visiting Dyros caves before and the abandoned tower house village of Vathey after Kardamilli.
There is an old ruin at Kardameli just a short walk from the centre . If I remember it was a mill/tower house and has a muceum.
We toured the Mani a few years ago. This is a portion of my Mani album stating at Kardameli; just click on the arrow to the right of the image to go to the next photo. After the Kardameli section are images of Dyros caves. Something to look forward to.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/48866429561/in/album-72157711323535897/
Posted by
OP
21 posts
Thank you so much, everyone! It looks like Kardamyli is what we're talking about.