Mani

It is said that one can see Mani in 3 days, travel in 3 months but to actually experience its soul requires 3 lives. Mani is an area with a rich history background which was never enslaved.

It lies from Gytheio to Cape Tainaro and was first inhabited by the Legeges during the Stone Age. Ninety-eight out of the 118 total Settlements can be found in Mani of the Peloponnese. Mani’s special feature are its tower-houses, small square towers with narrow rectangular windows. Greece  has a total of 800 traditional settlements, castles, 800 tower-houses and more than 1000 Byzantine and post byzantine churches.

It is surrounded by clean seas with crystal-lake water and it has amazing small coves and sandy beaches with white pebbles or rugged and steep rocks.

This area never abandoned its customs and traditions. Mani is a barren land, where only olive-trees and prickly pears grow. It is famous for its excellent virgin olive oil and olive trees are an integral part of the area.

It  is worth visiting Vathia, Areopolis, Caves of Diros, Oitylo, Kitta, Kotronas, Marmari, Porto Kagio, Cape Tainaron, Kastania, Cranae, Mani’ s Mani Historical and Ethnological Museum, which is accommodated in the Tzanetakis Tower in the town of Gythio and it hosts 5 centuries of Greek history.