Voidokilia Beach and Gialova Lagoon

Gialova Lagoon

Gialova Lagoon is a bird sanctuary at the northern end of Navarino Bay, although we didn’t see many birds, Leashia thought it looked like the Dead Marshes from Lord of the Rings ! The Lagoon is on one side of the spit of land that has Golden Beach on the other. The Lagoon is not a place for a swim, for that you should head for the picturesque Voidokilia Beach which is nearby.

Voidokilia Beach

This picture perfect sandy beach is delightful but can get busy in peak season. You can drive to the northern end and park in the road or take the pleasant walk from Golden Beach along the side of the Gialova Lagoon but for the best views you need to scramble up to the castle, see below for more information.

The Paleokastro

The Frankish ‘Old Castle’ was built in the 13th century and is where you need to go if you want to gawp at the amazing views of Voidokilia Beach and Gialova Lagoon. It’s not that easy to get to and it is officially closed so you do enter at your own risk.

Nestor’s Cave

Just below the castle on the Voidokilia side is Nestor’s Cave and the large cave mouth can be seen from the beach. You can scramble to it over the dunes from the beach or take the more hairy way down from the castle. It’s the mythical cave where King Nestor kept his cattle, but how the cows got there in the first place is anyone’s guess!

A walk, a climb, a swim and a walk.

If you want to see the Paleokastro and the cave up close there are a couple of options. You can scramble up to them from Voidokilia Beach or approach from Golden Beach taking a circular walk to the castle, on to the cave, then the beach and return over the dunes past Gialova Lagoon to the car. This is the option we chose. Allowing for stops and photo opportunities it takes about an hour to get to the castle and another half an hour to the beach. The walk back to the car over the dunes past the Lagoon takes about half an hour. I would advise taking plenty of water and snacks and not to wear flipflops!

We parked at the end of the dirt track at the top of Golden Beach where there’s a sign pointing towards the castle and another saying it’s closed ‘due to serious danger’ which we obviously ignored. The path to the castle is uphill and not too taxing but I would not recommend it if you do not have sturdy leggies. Once we rounded the corner we could see the castle and it’s a pretty impressive spectacle.

We entered the castle through a partially collapsed arch and then followed the path through the castle grounds to the other side. There are some deep pits to avoid so we had to be careful.

We were then rewarded with stunning views of Voidokilia Beach. So far so good!

However, getting to the cave and down to the beach was more of a challenge and involved hanging on to ropes and standing on helpfully placed iron rungs. Leashia only fell over once.

On reaching the cave we were rewarded with the spectacle of King Nestor himself sitting on a rock who on closer inspection was actually a friendly Canadian called Avery.

The walk from the cave to the beach was steep at times but it was not too long before we were trudging through the sand dunes towards the water for a well earned swim.

The walk back to the car entailed another trudge through the dunes and then thankfully a flat path along the side of Gialova Lagoon [The Dead Marshes]. Halfway along this path we saw another sign, we ignored this one too.