Kardamyli

The main road runs through Kardamyli which can cause the occasional traffic chaos with coaches and lorries trying to squeeze by each other. So first impressions may not be that great. If you are staying in Stoupa you will go though Kardamyli on the way from Kalamata.

Kardamyli is a charming village with added attraction of Old Kardamyli [see below] which is hidden behind the modern town. There are several cafes, tavernas and hotels dotted around the main street and the sleepy side streets that lead to the waterside and small harbour. There are also some lovely shops and boutiques. I buy my olive oil from a tourist shop towards the north end of the town. I can never remember the name of the shop, [it’s next to Kimbo Cafe I think]. They sell their home produced olive oil tucked away on a shelf on the right as you enter.

Restaurants, Taverna’s & Cafes’s

Andrew Bostock, author of Greece: The Peloponnese, published by Bradt, wrote much of his guide in Cafe Androuvista [AKA Anna’s]. It’s a lovely cafe on the main road and it’s where I like to go for lunch [and a beer]. I recently ‘discovered’ Yioryitsa’s Backyard Cafe which is hidden away in a beautiful passage and courtyard opposite the church. The food was lovely and they sometimes show films on a screen in the yard in the evening.

Restaurant Dioskouri overlooking St John’s Bay in the south of Kardamyli is another wonderful place to stop and eat and admire the views. Their lentil salad with Mani smoked pork and orange is sublime.

Patrick Fermor’s House [Patrick and Joan’s House]

The celebrated adventurer and author Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor, lived in his latter years just to the south of Kardamyli in Kalamitsi Bay. The house is now owned by the Bentaki Museum and operates as a hotel run by Aria. You can make bookings to view the house in advance but this currently limited to just once a week. You do not get a guided tour, you can just wander around the wonderful house and gardens.

In 2011 Patrick Fermor returned to England to die aged 96 and is buried next to his wife in Dumbleton, Gloucester. [no I have never heard of Dumbleton either!]

Old Kardamyli

On the other [inland] side of the main road is Old Kardamyli which is hidden from view from the main street. A short walk along a path at the north end of the town takes you to the old fortifications and the 17th Century Church [which I have never been inside as it is always locked] and tower house which is now a rather interesting and informative museum which focuses on life in The Mani through the ages.

You can take a spectacular walk along the side of Viros Gorge via a kalderimi [an old donkey path] that starts at Old Kardamyli but you will need a set of sturdy leggies. For more information about the gorge click HERE.