Stoupa - Petalidi

Monday, June 5, 2023

We leave Stoupa after breakfast and head to Kalamata first. This is the capital of Messenia and was devastated by a severe earthquake in September 1986. It is mainly known for its olive exports. We climb up to the castle and visit the remains. On a small part of the area, young people (possibly students?) are excavating in the blazing midday sun. They are scraping with small rakes and sweeping with small brooms, and it looks incredibly exhausting and unproductive to me. Kalamata doesn't have a lot to offer, we walk through the old town, which is quite nice, and through the shopping zone, which is deserted today because it is orthodox Whit Monday in Greece, to the harbor. The small boat harbor is quite nice to look at, we take a stroll and then make our way back to the motorhome. At a street corner, there is a pair of geese standing in the middle of the road, undeterred by passing cars. The way back to the motorhome is quite long, we walk through a lot of sun and not so nice areas and arrive at the car all heated up. We make our way to Petalidi, where we meet up with friends who are on vacation in a holiday home with their children. We meet the whole gang a few kilometers outside at the beach. We spend some time here, then drive to the holiday home, where we even get our own room with a bathroom and washing machine! The washing machine is immediately put to use! In the evening, we go to a small taverna a few kilometers up the mountain to the hinterland and here we are allowed to look into the kitchen and the pots. Everything looks incredibly delicious and I decide on moussaka. And it is very good! The host is really lovely, we get wine and ouzo and dessert on the house and in the end, we only pay 93€ for eight people... We will go there again tomorrow!