Owed to a Grecian Urn

After a single night in Dimitsana, we headed toward the Mani peninsula and the seacoast town of Kardamyli. The route took us through the Lousious River gorge, famous for its steep cliffs, beautiful clear river, and several monasteries and archeological sites. Our intent was to visit at least one monastery, which we did, but we also decided on several recommendations to visit the Open Air Water Power Museum just south of Dimitsana. We almost skipped it assuming it would not be very interesting, but we were wrong about that.

Water Power Museum

It would be easy to pass this museum by. It’s off the main road and, frankly, it sounds rather dull. It’s not. The museum is built around several stone mills and shops that utilized water power to process wool, tan sheep and goat hides, wash clothes, and manufacture gunpowder. The latter sounds a bit out of place, but the rugged terrain of the Lousious Gorge played a major role in several waves of Greek resistance to outside forces over the years, and the manufacture of gunpowder was essential to that effort. The museum is a textbook on how remote mountain villages survived and even prospered.

 

 

The Monastery of Ayios Ioannes Prodromos

The Prodromos Monastery is fairly accessible. By that I mean that it’s down a several kilometer twisty road to a small church, down another steep .5k by foot to a steep, uneven rocky path that leads another .8k steeply down a series of switchbacks. It’s worth every step.

Prodromou (as it is commonly called) was founded in the 11th century. It is built into the side of a tall vertical overhanging cliff face in what appears to be a very precarious fashion. One side of the monastery is the cliff wall itself, and there are murals painted on those walls from the founding of the monastery. Stairways are steep and narrow and tend to follow the contours of the cliff face. Other rooms have been added over the years, and they welcome visitors during certain hours.

Pictures probably do not do it justice, but here goes.

 

 

 

Kardamyli

We arrived in Kardamyli in the late afternoon, in time to explore our glorious hotel and watch a sunset over the Gulf of Messini from our patio. Here for the next two days.