Already the name of this hike sounded lovely: Pigi & Platsa – the 2 villages we would reach on cobblestone-paved roads built hundreds of years ago for hoofed traffic connecting the mountain villages with each other and the coast.
These roads are called kalderimi and are typically 2 m wide, so that two fully laden mules could pass each other without much difficulty. In Greece, the kalderimi network once linked almost every village, hamlet, chapel, and even sheepfold.
The kalderimi roads are paved with flat stones. As they are designed for foot and hoofed traffic, they have steps where necessary, made of stones laid vertically. On flat stretches, they may be unpaved. On slopes, hairpins were used to reduce the incline.
Flowers were everywhere, it was a joy hiking through this beautiful landscape in spring. It was like walking through a flower garden and in every region we discovered flowers we hadn’t seen before.
Salvia
This really was a great hike! We had already spent the night at our starting point under some big Eucalyptus trees. (Parking: 36.817280, 22.294474) Afterwards we enjoyed the sandy beach on the other side of the road, just the water was still too cold for us.
One more hike at the Mani? Yes please! Lets see where we hike next on the following post!!