Frequently Asked Questions
The landing is a 15 to 20 minute walk from the shopping centre, along a basin where yachts and caiques mingle. The old town needs about thirty minutes on foot, or a short taxi ride.
Go straight up to the old town and its Frankish castle, then wander back down from square to square to the market and the seafront. That plan avoids walking the same hill twice.
A fortress raised in the thirteenth century by the Frankish crusaders of Villehardouin, on top of the hill. Its walls are modest, but they conceal a viewpoint open to the sea, the rooftops and the ridges of Taygetus. The climb is short and shaded by pines.
Stalls of olives, oils, honeys and mountain herbs, near the covered halls. Producers offer tastings freely, and the prices are striking to anyone who knows what fine grocers charge back home.
Yes, a long urban pebble beach runs along Navarinou Avenue, lined with cafes and fish restaurants. Locals settle at the tables from late afternoon onwards.
One of the least visited and most complete sites in Greece, about thirty kilometres north, some 40 minutes by road: an almost intact stadium, a theatre, temples and fourth-century BCE walls spread across a valley of olive trees.
An austere peninsula due south, where Kardamyli and Stoupa sit between mountains and clear coves, about an hour's drive away. The writer Patrick Leigh Fermor lived there for decades.
Yes, the municipal railway park: a garden where steam locomotives and old carriages rust elegantly among the eucalyptus. A free open-air museum, ideal between visits.
The glossy black olives that carry the town's name, a drizzle of new oil on fresh bread, and a glass of Nemea red, the great appellation of the Peloponnese. Silk woven by nuns at a nearby convent is sold in the old town.
The euro and Greek. The town was largely rebuilt after the 1986 earthquake and lives mainly for itself: English works in the central shops, less so at the market. Bring cash for producers.
