Motorhomers on Tour : Going Deeper into Mani and the Caves of Diros

The day before yesterday was a first for us in Greece – it rained. In fact, it poured down non-stop for 24 hours. It was hard to believe that the day before was 26°C and we were sunbathing on the beach, and Mel even enjoyed a swim in the sea. Now it was only 13°C and poor old Sonny was getting battered from all directions with rain and wind.

Unfortunately for us, that meant a day cooped up in the motorhome. A bit of reading, a little bit of travel planning, playing cards and watching a film. After a few hours we were beginning to get cabin fever! So, as soon as the rain let up for a short while (early afternoon), we put our coats on and had a mooch along the beach and through the village. Ten minutes later, we were soaked to the skin, as the heavens opened once again. We had a brolly with us but it was too windy to keep it up.

The one and only street that runs through the village/hamlet

At the end of the village near to where we had parked is a Taverna – The Black Pirate, which had a lovely open log fire going, so we ducked in there to dry out and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine. The owner was a lovely lady, who spoke good English. She told us that she had worked in London and Kent but she was happy to be back in her little paradise – Neo Itylo. We couldn’t agree more with her, when the sun is shining it is idyllic here.

Black Pirate Flag trying to fly far left-hand side in the wind and rain. Yesterday, we had sat across the road in their pavement cafe in full sun!

Itylo was once the capital of Mani and the region’s most notorious base for piracy and slave trading and blood feuds. The people of Mani are proud warrior people who claim to be direct descendants of the ancient Spartans. For century the Maniots fended off the Turks whilst the rest of Greece was absorbed by the Ottoman Empire and from the 14^th to late 19^th century families were embroiled in blood feuds, mostly over land or honour. The families (clans) built traditional 3 to 4 stories high towers and from these forts (Maniot Towers) the clans waged battles against each other The object was to destroy the tower and kill the male members of the opposing clan. These battles would go on for years until one side was annihilated or the one would surrender. It's hard to imagine how these people lived.

We went back to the Black Pirate early evening for a meal. Earlier we had seen people eating the fresh fish that a local fisherman had brought to the restaurant. The lady owner, who we had been speaking to earlier that afternoon took Mel to where all the fresh fish were – which was outside in a big cool box packed with ice. I stayed inside as it was pouring down with rain still. She recommended the Grouper and a fish that is like Sea Bream. Both came served with fresh veg and washed down with wine.

Meal at The Black Pirate

About 15 minutes later the owner brought over a half litre of wine and said it was on the house, followed by a complimentary dessert. It was a Greek dessert of yogurt, honey and fruit – although we were already full, we never say no to a freebie and it was delicious! As we were leaving, the rain was still coming down heavily and the winds getting up. The lady owner said if we didn’t want to stop in our motorhome, she would find us a room for the night. They are so kind these Greek folks around here. We thanked her but said we would be fine. We have slept through worse storms in our motorhome over the years!

The rain stopped about 10am the next morning and we headed further south into Mani – destination Diros Caves at Pyrgos Dirou. Before leaving we did all of Sonny's ablutions - there's a water tap and outside WC in the village.

As we got deeper into Mani, the landscape changed and became more rugged and baron reminding us of remote parts in the Lake District and the Scottish Highlands.

Maniot tower houses built against the hillside

Shops are few and far between but we pulled into Areopoli (the last of the bigger villages in south Mani), as we had read there were a couple of supermarkets here but the two that still had the signs up looked like they had closed down years ago. We did find a butcher’s though and bought some lovely cooked gammon, which the Greek butcher had recommended and let us taste before buying. We continued to Pyrgos Dirou and luckily found a bread shop and Mani Market.

Refreshing to see they have their own supermarkets here, and not a Lidl in sight!

The Diros Caves are a popular tourist destination and are considered an important natural site of the Peloponnese. Fortunately for us, even though it was a Saturday it was very quiet. We bought our tickets €13 each and made our way to the caves. The head boatman said that we would have to wait until 4 more people turned up as the boats took 6, maybe 15-20 minutes. We grabbed a coffee and not long after more people turned up. So, we were each given a life jacket and got into the flat-bottomed boat – apparently the water is 20m deep in places.

Mel all 'togged up' for the boat ride!

The boatman asked me to sit at the front of the boat and called me the Capitan (or as we would say, captain) Mel and the other 4 sat behind each other in the middle. The boatman’s only English was “keep your head down” and shouting to me “Capitan keep in the middle”, as I twisted and turned to take photos. He skilfully punted us around the narrow and low underground caves for 1.2km, you don’t get any narrative and the silence adds to the magic of the place. They were very low in places and narrow, and a hard had would have come in useful as we had to duck a lot to get under some of the stalactites.

The caves were discovered around 1900 but not opened to the public until 1967. They were stunning and around every corner a different view and reflection in the water.

After about 30 minutes, you get off the boat, and walk a further 300 metres through the stalactites and stalagmites.

We headed back up the road and down a steep one to the beach, overlooking the caves.

Beach, overlooking Diros Caves

We had planned to stop here the night but it was a bit remote and fairly windy, so we had some lunch and continued on to Gerolimenas and parked in a little car park next to a taverna, overlooking the harbour. The name means ‘old port’ and was once an important harbour for transporting goods.

Another incredible place to park up for free - alongside the local fishing boat and Taverna

The village is tiny, with a handful of residents. There's a couple of hotels, that I should imagine are full in the summer and some rooms to rent, a few Tavernas and a small, and very dark shop that sells a little bit of everything. The rest of the stone houses are crumbling away and building projects that look like they downed tools long ago. The area now reminded us of an old Cornish Village. From Scotland to Cornwall in a few kilometres!

Old Mani tower in Gerolimenas

An old church next to where we are parked up. They must have been small in those days to get in here

Old winch at the end of the harbour

The rains came again during the night but by 10am the next day the sun started to come out so we had a wander up the mountain. It’s an old walking path that takes you to the remote village of Ohia.