”Try not to look over the edge and you should be fine,” said Stamatis while weaving his tour bus precariously down one of many rugged mountains leading towards Mani.
”And definitely do not show fear, the locals hate cowards.”
Set against a rugged landscape dotted with towering villages, Frankish castles, Byzantine churches and beautiful beaches, Mani, on the southern Peloponnese coast of Greece, can literally be described as being at the edge of the world.
Visitors will be left in awe of its contrasting landscapes. Mesa Mani, or inner Mani, is wild, rugged and unique with is amazing, towering and medieval villages reminiscent of San Gimignano in Tuscany.
Set brilliantly against a backdrop of crystalline aqua-blue waters, majestic cypress trees and wild olive groves, Exo Mani, or outer Mani, contains similar views to Tuscany’s lush green hues.
The wild landscape in inner Mani, which stretches from the sleepy port town of Gythio to Cape Tainaro, the mythical entrances to the dark underworld of Hades, is reminiscent of the its residents who are notoriously depicted as hardened survivors, fierce warriors and ruthless pirates.
The people of Mani proudly claim to be descendants of the ancient Spartans and boast that even during the 400-year Ottoman occupation of the remainder of Greece, Mani, which consists of two main regions, preserved its freedom.
While many of the hamlets in inner Mani are derelict, others like the village of Vathia are being painstakingly restored to their former glory to handle the swarms of tourists eager to stay at a tower house or to visit the Caves of Dirou.
The caves consist of a vast network of underground channels and huge caverns adorned with stalactites and stalagmites in various shades of pink, lime and lavender. Flat-bottomed boats that glide through many of the 1 200m-long tunnels are on hand to take passengers there.
Just south of Dirou’s caves lies the partially abandoned village of Kitta, the site of Mani’s final vendetta in 1897.
Historians claim that it took more than 400 armed troops to suppress the battle between the two families.
These vendettas, which often lasted for decades, were sometimes triggered by a presumed insult or an unwelcome advance to a young girl. While their real motive remains unclear, many believe that the underlying reason for many of Mani’s battles was to gain control a well or ownership of a field to plant a few stalks of wheat among the stones.
Despite the region’s aridity, Mani is known for its unique culinary products, such as glina or syglino (pork or pork sausage smoked with aromatic herbs such as thyme, oregano and mint and then stored in lard with orange peel) and what is probably the world’s best extra-virgin olive oil, pressed from partially ripened olives of the Koroneiki variety that are grown on mountain terraces.
Once in the area, a visit to Greece’s best-preserved Byzantine city, Mystras, which was founded in 1249 by the Frankish leader William II de Villeharduin is a must. Follow it up with a stroll along the astonishing cobbled kalderimia in the Taygetos Mountains.
From Mystras you can drive a short distance to the fishing port of Gerolimenas, pass beautiful towers and Byzantine churches and move on to the romantic ruins of a castle in Tigani or walk to the Mouth of Hell — a cave reputed to be one of mythological entrances to Hades.
According to ancient custom, the deceased were carried by the god Hermes to the water and then escorted by Charon, the ferryman, across an underground lake or river to their last resting place in Hades.
The ferryman received as payment an obolos coin, which the family of the deceased usually placed on the eyes of the dead to ensure their safe passage to the underworld. Without the obolos, Charon would refuse passage and the soul would be doomed to wander the world of the living forever.
”We still believe in the obolos coin,” said Stamatis, pulling a token from his pocket.
”You see, we are an evil lot down here,” he added with a wicked grin. — Sapa-dpa