Gargarou Retreat villas for long lets in the Peloponnese, Greece
the local area
Harakopio - our local village - is 1km away on the main road between Kalamata and Koroni. It is a large traditional village with 3 restaurants, half a dozen tavernas and cafes, supermarkets, bakers, pharmacies, a post office, and many other stores - even 2 pasta makers. Gianni and Fouli’s restaurant has traditional oven baked dishes - you go into the kitchen to choose from what they have cooked that day. There is also a pizza restaurant and Nikko’s has very good grilled meat and fish - he also has Rose wine from his own vineyard that’s very popular locally. On Sunday mornings there is a vegetable market where you can stock up with local seasonal produce for the week. Few tourists come to the village so it’s as busy in December when everyone is harvesting olives as in the middle of summer.
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Harakopio Sunday morning market (in November) |
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Gargarou beach is 15 minutes walk (1km) and Koroni is 10 minutes by car (5km), or an hours walk by tracks along the coast . For keen walkers there are many tracks through the olive groves where you can discover many small villages, abandoned ruins and beautiful valleys from the sea up into the hills. There is a local walking group and our friend Gill Tomlinson runs guided walks and art courses.
Kombi is a small village with a store and a good taverna open in the summer months. It’s a pleasant 15 minutes walk away through the olive groves. Past Kombi and Gargarou beach you’ll find Vounaria and it’s many churches. Towards Koroni, Agios Triada is the next village along the coast which has a lovely sandy beach. It’s a 30-40 minute walk there. |
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Gargarou beach |
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Here are some of our favourite places to visit by car or bus: The Polimni Waterfalls near Haravgi, about 45 minutes drive, are are series of lovely waterfalls and pools running through a small gorge. You can swim in the largest pool there.
Ancient Messini is an important site in a striking setting up in the mointains, about an hour’s drive away
Olympia, one of the largest and most beautiful sites in Greece, is about 3 hours drive from here. You can also get there by bus/train from Kalamata.
Methoni is on the west facing coast of Messinia and is an hours drive. It has a medieval citadel (free entry) on the sea that is definitely worth a visit
Mystra is a large and well preserved Byzantine city near Sparta. It’s about a 2 hour drive up into the mountains past Kalamata. The drive from Kalamata through two gorges is stunning, worth making the trip alone
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Polimni Waterfalls |
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Pylos is another medieval town and port further up the coast past Methoni and is about 1.5 hours drive away. A few kilometres further along the coast is Gialova, a small resort which has several good restaurants by the sea, and nearby is the conservation area of Voidhokilia with a natural lagoon and wetlands (home to 20.000 water birds and African Chameleon), beautiful bay and the ancient site of the Kastro Navarinou and Nestor’s Cave. Nestor’s Palace is about a half hour drive further north and is another important site where tablets written in ‘Linear B’ script were discovered linking mainland Greece with the Minoan culture in Crete (and has a nice bathtub too). |
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Agios Triada beach |
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Methoni |
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