The southernmost peninsula of Greece, the Máni , stretches from Yíthio in the east to Kardhamyli in the west and terminates at Cape Ténaro, the mythical entrance to the underworld. Its spine, negotiated by road at just a few points, is the vast grey mass of Mount Taïyetos and its southern extension, Sangiás. It is a wild landscape, an arid Mediterranean counterpart to Cornwall, or the Scottish highlands, with an idiosyncratic culture and history to match. Nowhere in Greece does a region seem so close to its violent medieval past - which continued largely unaltered until the end of the nineteenth century. Despite, or perhaps because of this, the sense of hospitality is, like nearby Crete, as strong as anywhere in Greece.

 

The peninsula has two distinct regions: the Éxo (Outer) Máni and the Mésa (Inner or Deep) Máni. The Mésa Máni - that part of the peninsula south of a line drawn between Ítylo and Vathy bays - is classic Máni territory, its jagged coast relieved only by the occasional cove, and its land a mass of rocks. It has one major sight, the remarkable caves at Pyrgos Dhiroú , which are now very much on the tourist circuit. Beyond this point tourist numbers thin out fast. The attractions include the coastal villages, like Yeroliménas on the west coast, or Kótronas on the east, but the pleasure is mainly in exploring the tower-houses and churches , and the solitude. A fair number of the towers survive, their groupings most dramatic at Kítta, Váthia and Flomohóri . The churches are subtler and harder to find, often hidden away from actual villages, but worth the effort. Many were built during the tenth and twelfth centuries, when the Maniots enthusiastically embraced Christianity; almost all retain at least traces of frescoes though many are kept locked, with elusive wardens.

The Éxo Máni - the coast up from Areópoli to Kalamáta, much of it in Messinía province - sees the emphasis shift much more to walking and beaches. Stoúpa and Kardhamyli are both beautiful resorts, developing now but far from spoiled. The road itself is an experience, threading precipitously up into the foothills of Taïyetos before looping down to the sea.