The open air museum of water power at Dimitsana is a remarkable site, worthy of several posts. This post covers the first part of the site, leading up to the tannery, and including some stuff about fulling, and some introductory stuff about water and energy.
Pictures tell this story better than words…
A final coda to my post about Olympia (https://aspiblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/ancient-olympia/), a lively and amusing version of the story of how the ancient Olympics got started is told by Tom Holt in the novel Olympia. Any book with his name on the cover will be a good read.
After an excellent stay at the Hotel Europa, we set off as intended just before 10 o’clock. For the next hour things did not go quite as planned…
First we could not find our way on to the road from Olympia to Tripoli as intended, and then having got on to a suitable route we picked up a hitchhiker which delayed things further.
However, we still arrived at our first stop of the day, Dimitsana, in good time to go round the open air museum of water power.
So
me pictures from this portion of the day…
Between those on display at my parents holiday home, the stuff at cape Tainaros and a good mosaic at Olympia I reckon I have enough to justify providing a collection of mosaic pictures…
This is the site of the original Olympics, held here from 776 BC until the Roman Emperor and christian fanatic Theodosius put a stop to them in 393AD – and it would be 1500 years before they were revived. However, this was not just the original sporting hotbed, there are countless other splendid things to see here. As usual I have some excellent photos for you…
Olum
I am currently in a hotel room in Olympia, having visited one of the most famous of all Greek sites and swum in the hotel pool, but this post is about yesterday (today will come later – probably after supper). Susan Shimmin, who helped my parents to arrange the purchase of their Greek house turned 70 yesterday, and I was among those invited to the party. This featured a very pretty walk between Stoupa and a place called Kalliope’s. Some of us, including me, did the walk twice, while at the other extreme were those who did not walk at all. Back at Stoupa there was a royal spread of wonderful Greek food and then the unveiling of the cake – and what a cake it was!
Even though I decamped shortly after the cake was unveiled I have some fine photos from the day…
The Inner Mani’s particular version of the very traditional Greek habits of feud and vendetta led to the building by anyone who could of fortified tower houses. They were defending themselves against each other, much like the border reavers of Northumberland with their bastles. As usual, I have plenty of pictures for you…
In ancient times this was home to a temple and death oracle of Poseidon (the ruins of which can still be seen), and was a notorious spot for ship wrecks. At least one reasonably eminent Roman had a villa here as there are some old mosaics left from his tenure. The end of the Greek mainland is signalled by lighthouse, which is moderately attractive. Being in the driest most arid part of mainland Greece, the path is as one would expect bare and rocky, but I was able to walk it in beefed up flip flops.
This region also contains my nomination for the most desperate attempt at cultivation I have yet to see evidence of – indescribable, so wait for the photo…
Venturing into the inner Mani (the town of Areopoli marks the boundary between the inner and outer Mani – think Men of Kent and Kentish Men) we saw some very splendid Byzantine churches (and some truly ghastly modern replicas). In the only one we could get inside there were some interesting frescos, and all featured some fine examples of decorative brickwork using Roman style bricks. I have some very fine photographs of these extraordinary buildings…
Although the castle at Methoni was closed by the time we got there, we were able to see a lot of it from the outside. Paddling in the sea I was a little annoyed not to have equipped myself for swimming because the water was lovely. Still before going back to Tseria tonight I will be able to have a swim at Stoupa. Methoni castle was built by the Venetians when they were a force to be reckoned with, and features stoneworked lions of St Mark. As usual I have some splendid pictures for you…
Having finished exploring the remains of ancient Messene we repaired to a guard post on the old walls. These walls, a circuit of nine kilometres, were built by Epaminondas of Thebes after he had liberated the Messenians from four centuries of Spartan rule as an insurance policy should the Spartans try to recapture Messenia. This did not happen, because within a generation Philip of Macedon was in charge.
Just a few photos from this location…
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