It was market day in Areopoli (every Saturday), which made it a great stop for some fresh fruits and veggies – always so much more fun than a supermarket.
We were on our way to Kap Tigáni, a little peninsula in the shape of a pan handle. But more about it later, first we did some shopping!
After passing this typical Mani “village”, we had reached Kap Tigáni, where our first task was lunch with all the fresh things we had bought at the market, even better when you can enjoy it in a great place. Parking for the hike: 36.531884, 22.369987.
The peninsula of Tigáni is about 1 km long. At the tip, it rises 40 meters above sea level and clear traces of a castle with strong walls and towers are visible. The archeologists are not sure about the history of this castle. It is one of the possible candidates for the Franconian fortress “Grand Magne”, which has not been located with certainty.
The church within the walls was identified as a Christian basilica from the early Byzantine times. Burial objects like earrings and belt buckles were found and dated to 5th and 6th century.
South of the peninsula lies a historic church under a cliff called Panagia Agitria, which can be reached on a path along the coast.
At Kap Tigani we met some fellow travellers, Asudeh & Ernst, an Iranian-Swiss couple, which not only impressed us with their social media activities, but were really nice people we enjoyed talking to. They donated some pictures taken with their drone which you can see in this post. Look them up, you can find them under ashushworld!
What a great place, so harsh and remote but so lovely in spring with all the wild flowers in bloom and countless bees buzzing from one flower to the next.
We spent the night there before we continued to drive around the Mani, past the villages with their fortified towers, before we reached Githio, were we will spend a day to get our washing done, get Edi’s hair cut and do some shopping, before we continue in direction of Corinth. More on our next post!