KALAMÁTA
is by
far the
largest
city of
the
southern
Peloponnese,
spreading
for some
four
kilometres
back
from the
sea, and
into the
hills.
It's
quite a
metropolitan
shock
after
the
small-town
life of
the rest
of the
region.
The city
has a
long-established
export
trade in
olives
and figs
from the
Messinian
plain,
flourishing
as a
commercial
centre
during
the
Turkish
period
and as
one of
the
first
independent
Greek
towns in
1821,
with the
first
newspaper
to be
printed
on Greek
soil
five
months
later.
In 1986
however,
Kalamáta
was near
the
epicentre
of a
severe
earthquake
that
killed
twenty
people
and left
12,000
families
homeless.
But for
the fact
that the
quake
struck
in the
early
evening,
when
many
people
were
outside,
the
death
toll
would
have
been
much
higher.
As it
was,
large
numbers
of
buildings
were
levelled
throughout
the town.
The
intensity
of the
damage
was in
part due
to the
city's
position
over
several
subterranean
streams,
but
mostly,
it seems,
the
legacy
of poor
1960s
construction.
The
result
was an
economic
depression
across
the
whole
area,
from
which
the town
is only
now
recovering
properly.
The
City
Few
visitors
plan to
linger
here;
however,
if you
are
travelling
for a
while,
it's a
good
place to
get
things
done,
and
there
are
other
simple
pleasures
such as
eating
at
tavernas
among
the
Neoclassical
houses
on the
waterfront
or
around
the
centre,
which
comprises
the wide
avenue
formed
by the
long
Platía
Konstandínou
Dhiadhókhnou.
With
a little
time to
fill, a
twenty-minute
walk
north of
the
centre
will
bring
you to
the most
pleasing
area of
the city,
around
the
Kástro
. Built
by the
Franks
and
destroyed
and
adapted
in turn
by the
Turks
and
Venetians,
the
kástro
survived
the
quake
with
little
damage;
an
amphitheatre
at its
base
hosts
summer
concerts.
A short
way
south of
the
kástro
, at
Polyzóglou
6 is the
excellent
Benakion
Archeological
Museum
(Tues-Sun
8.30am-3pm;
¬1.50),
which
houses a
modest
but well-labelled
collection
of tomb
reliefs,
sculptures
and
smaller
artefacts
from the
surrounding
areas,
as well
as a
colourful
Roman
mosaic
from
Desylla.
Kalamáta's
beach
, along
Navarínou,
a
ten-minute
bus ride
(#1)
south of
the
centre,
is
always
crowded
along
the
central
section.
The
gritty
sands
are
functional
but
improve
continuously
eastwards
until
the
popular
gay area
beyond
the
Filoxenia
Beach
Hotel
. If you
prefer
to walk
to the
harbour
from the
centre,
it's a
thirty-minute
walk
down
Aristoménous,
and you
can
wander
in the
park
alongside
the
narrow
bottom
end of
the
street
and
admire
the old
steam
engines,
rolling
stock
and
mechanical
paraphernalia
at the
open-air
Railway
Museum.
