The text that follows refers to the villages and hamlets of the Municipality of Leuctro. Very soon this Municipality will cease existing as it is about to be united with the adjacent Municipality of Avia into a larger municipality, the Municipality of West Mani, following the state-wide Local and Regional Elections of November 2010.

 

                                                                                         Athens, 11th November 2010

 

 

 

Kardamyli, seat of the former Municipality of Leuctro, is a village by the sea, at a distance of 30 kilometers from Kalamata. It has 574 permanent residents, according to the 1991 census, but the population increases at summertime with tourists.

Kardamyli has a long history. It retains its Homeric name and is mentioned in Homer’s Iliad (Book IX, v 149-153) as one of the seven “cities” which Agamemnon planned to give Achilles as a dowry. What’s more, according to tradition, it is here that the graves of the Dioscuri brothers, Castor and Polydeuces, are located. The village features prominent families with significant influence not only in the pre-revolutionary Hellenic lands but afterwards, as well. These families played an important role in the preparation, the outbreak, and the successful outcome of the Revolution. It was here that Theodore Kolocotronis wintered before moving with his companions against Kalamata on March 22 of 1821.

The historic sites of Kardamyli are concentrated at “Upper”, or “Old”, Kardamyli. Ancient Kardamyli was not located on the sea. This is confirmed by Pausanias who in his Laconica writes that Kardamyli lies “eight stadia” ([1]) from the sea. Here stands the church of Agios Spyridon along with a number of tower-houses. Other sights worth seeing are the stone-paved paths leading to the neighboring hamlets of Agia Sophia and Petrovouni. The ascent to these hamlets will compensate the hikers with the beautiful view that they will enjoy. Another nice hike, longer though, is to the monastery of Sotiras, in the Vyros Ravine. The visitor of Kardamyli will notice a few tower-like constructions, called by the locals “vardies”, which are located on hillocks. In the old times, they were manned by villagers for the purpose of warning the inhabitants in the case of approaching pirate ships. It is natural for someone to conclude that the word “vardia” is a derivative of “guardia”, a word of Latin origin.

 

 

Agia Sophia, or Gournitsa, is a small hamlet built on a hill near Kardamyli. It is named after the church of the hamlet which is its only sight. It’s a small church built of “porolithos” (see below for an explanation of porolithos), circa 1630. From here a narrow road leads down to the monastery of Sotiras, in the Vyros Ravine.

 

 

Like Agia Sophia, Petrovouni is also a hamlet built on a hill above Kardamyli. From here the visitor has a marvelous view of Kardamyli, the plain with the olive groves, the sea, and the Messenian coast beyond. Here there exist the remains of the monastery of Panagia which belongs to the Holy Sepulcher, in Jerusalem.

 

 

The village is built on the slope of a mountain and has a panoramic view of Kardamyli and the Messenian Bay. It consists of six hamlets. Besides Tseria itself, the other hamlets are Giatrehika, Zacharias (former Lipohova), Katafygio (former Kopsolemehika), Pedino (former Kotsimarehika) and Leptini, or Leftini.

At Zacharias there is the Koukeas tower-house, also known as the Zacharias Tower named after Zacharias Barbitsiotis, an armatolos ([2]) who was murdered there in 1805. To reach Tseria, one has to pass through the village of Proselio. The distance between the two villages is 5 kilometers. The road terminates here, which means that in order to get back to the provincial road, the visitor has to return to Proselio.

 

 

The village of Proselio, or Liassinova, lies at a distance of 25 kilometers from Kalamata and is built amphitheatrically on the slope of a mountain at an altitude of 560 meters. Sights worth seeing here are the church of Agios Georgios (1833) and the tower-house of the Patriarcheas family.

 

 

From Proselio, following the road to Kardamyli, the traveler passes by the hamlet of Kalyves, built atop a small hillock. Not far from it, there is the monastery of Sotiras, in the Vyros Ravine.

 

 

Exochorio, Exochori or Xechori, is built at an altitude of 450 meters and is located 8 km away from Kardamyli. Today, its residents are but a few dozen. Yet, at the turn of the 20th century the village was the most populous in the area. It suffices to say that it supported two elementary schools, one for boys and one for girls, four parishes, and many olive-mills and water-driven flour-mills.

 

Up to 1932, the village was named Androuvista, a name dating several centuries back. Androuvista had been the seat of a diocese which was founded in 1630 and lasted until 1833. At the time of the Frankish occupation of the Peloponnese, Androuvista was raised to the status of Capetania, embracing the villages: Chora, Exochori, Proastio, Saidona, Laccos, Petrovouni, Gournitsa, Liassinova, Kalyves and Tseria.

With the establishment of the Greek State and the ensuing abolition of the Capetanias, the villages of Androuvista formed, in 1837, the Municipality of Kardamyli. Finally, following the administrative division of the country in 1937, the area of Androuvista was incorporated into the Prefecture of Messenia. Today, Exochorio is one of the Districts of the Municipality of Leuctro.

The area flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries. Testimony of this is its tower-houses and monasteries. Among these towers there should be mentioned the one of the Fasseas family at Kolibetsehica, the other of the Procopeas family at Chora, the Kitriniarehicos at Exochori and the Boukouvalehicos at Nicovo. Among the monasteries the most well known were the ones of Panagia and of Samuel, both situated at Vaidenitsa, a location near the village of Saidona which, as mentioned, was one of the member-villages of the Capetania.

 

Exochori offers itself as a starting point for hiking escapes. One such escape is to the Vyros Ravine below. Once there, one has three alternative paths to take. The first is to go westward to the monastery of Sotiras and Kardamyli. The second is to climb the path on the other side of the gorge that leads to the village of Tseria. The last is to follow the ravine eastward to the Vassiliki Forest and Mount Taygetos.

Another hiking proposition is the ascent to the Vassiliki Forest from the other path, by way of Vaidenitsa.

 

 

Proastio, or Prastio, is located a couple of  kilometers from Kardamyli at an altitude of 250 meters. This old village was built on a place that was out of the sight of the ships sailing along the coast. It is said that it had been purposely built there for the fear of the pirates who at those times raided the coastal villages.

Following the establishment of the Greek State, Proastio became the seat of the Municipality of the same name. This Municipality consisted, besides Proastio, of the villages of: Saidona, Laccos and Petrovouni. In 1840, it was absorbed into the Municipality of Kardamyli.

At the end of the village, on the way to Laccos and Exochori, there was (and still exists) a quarry of sedimentary rock. This rock is known to the wider area with the name “pori”. At this site the inhabitants developed significant quarrying activity. With a technique analogous to the one of marble quarrying, the villagers would cut the rock into rectangular pieces, “porolithi” (sing. “porolithos”) and it was with these pieces that they built houses and churches. Needless to say that cutting the rock was a hard and time-consuming task, since it was performed manually.

Despite its small size, the village has several churches of which two are worth mentioning: the Entrance of Virgin Mary, with its 40-meter tall bell-tower, and Agios Nicolaos which is situated in the middle of the village, by the main road. Below the village, at the base of a hill, one can visit and enjoy the beaches of Kalamitsi and Foneas.

 

 

At a small distance from the village, on the way to Exochori, one will reach the hamlet of Laccos.

 

 

Saidona is a village built amphitheatrically on the slope of mount Sotiritsa in the mountain range of Taygetos at an altitude of 600 meters. Its distance from Kalamata is about 50 km. One may reach the village by way of Proastio and Exochorio or by way of Neochorio and Pyrgos.

It is said that the first inhabitants settled here following the taking of Constantinople by the Ottomans. This settlement is attested by the existence of the two centuries old monasteries of Samuel and Vaidenitsa. The monastery of Samuel was built circa 1480 by a monk called Samuel who, according to tradition, had left Constantinople after the city’s fall. In about the same period, the other monastery must have been built as well.

The village’s inhabitants have traditionally been industrious, with an inherent tendency to struggle for freedom and the independence of the country. At a time when none in Europe dared stand up and resist fascism and Nazism, it was Greece that resisted the Axis. Among the first Greeks who resisted the conquerors were the Saidonites. In May 1941, Saidonites would form the first armed band of resistance against the Italian army contingent stationed in the area. In retaliation of this action the Italians set fire to many houses of the village.

The village offers itself as a starting point for a number of alternative hiking routes: to Exochorio, Kardamyli or to Exochorio, Tseria and, last but not least, to the forest of Vassiliki and Mount Taygetos.

 

 

Neochorio, or Niochori, is built at an altitude of 250 meters and is located 4 km east of the road leading from Kalamata to Gythion. The distance from Kalamata to the road junction is about 45 km. It is a relatively new village which was built in the 1700s from settlers who came from nearby villages, like Nomitsi, Lagada, e.a. The village, together with the hamlets of Stoupa and Leuctro constituted the Community of Neochori-Leuctro. Today, they constitute one of the Districts of the Municipality of Leuctro. In antiquity the area was called Leuctra. Pausanias writes that “Leuctra lies at twenty stadia from Pefnos” an ancient city, which is currently where Platsa is located.

According to tradition, the first settlement was founded in the area around “the Panagitsa of the Chioureas’ (family)”. The houses of the village are built almost in contact to one another, leaving among them narrow lanes and tiny squares. At the NE of the village, somewhat detached from it, stand “the Mantzounehica” (an estate pertaining to the Mantzouneas clan).

The village has several churches to show. The village’s main church was initially the “Panagitsa of the Chioureas’” which was built circa 1917. Later, the church of Agios Nicolaos was built, adjacent to the village’s cemetery. Today, the church of The Annunciation, built in 1978 and located at the east sector of the village, acts as the village’s cathedral. Other churches worth mentioning are Agios Spyridon to the north and that of Agios Nicolaos to the west, the latter built at a location where, in old times, a stone-built apiary was operated by the Marambeas family. The village has about 300 inhabitants who are mostly farmers engaged in the cultivation of olive trees. There is also a small number of cattle-breeders and some who engage in the tourism.

 

 

Stoupa is situated 6 km south of Kardamyli. The village started as a seaside hamlet of Neochorio. As time passed by, however, the hamlet outgrew the mother village and following the development of the tourism industry it became a well known summer resort. Today, Stoupa has about 630 inhabitants.

The village is relatively new but its very good beaches, especially the one of Kalogria, have made it well known and an excellent summer destination. Here, author Nikos Kazantzakis and his business partner Zorbas set out to operate a mine. Though the venture failed it was here that Kazantzakis conceived his well-known work “Alexis Zorbas”.

Near the village, there rises a hillock with remnants of what used to be the Frankish Castle of Beaufort built by Villearduine circa 1250 and of which mention is made in the 14^th century Chronicle of the Morea.

Within walking distance from the village is the hamlet of Leuctro which has 170 inhabitants, several of them of foreign citizenship.

 

 

Pyrgos is situated at a distance of 50 km from Kalamata and 5 from Stoupa. In the beginning of the 20th century, its inhabitants numbered just a few hundred engaged in the cultivation of the land and the breeding of cattle. Because the land could not feed all inhabitants, many of them either migrated to other cities of Greece or emigrated to the United States, initially, and later to Australia and Germany. Today, its population is no more than a few dozen people who are mainly employed in the cultivation of olive trees.

The village’s patron saint is Agios Georgios and his church is located in a place from which one can enjoy the view of the sea and the setting sun.

 

 

Karyovouni, formerly called Arachova, is a mountain village located 10 km from Stoupa. Its houses are built on either side of a small ravine, the sides being connected by three small bridges.

Dryopi, former Piala, is a hamlet near Karyovouni which, in contrast to the latter, has an open view of the villages of Agios Nicolaos and Stoupa and of the plain with olive groves.

 

 

Agios Nicolaos, or Selinitsa as it was formerly called, is a village by the sea and its first inhabitants used to engage themselves almost exclusively with fishing. After the construction of a small port, wood vessels, called “benzinas”, started regular communication service with the town of Kalamata given that at the time there was no road system. Through its port, Selinitsa served the population of the nearby villages and became the hub of local commerce.

The old village, with its characteristic stone, two-story houses, was initially built around its small port. These houses are known by the names of their original owners: e.g. the house of Kelepouris, the house of Strateas, the house of doctor Cybelos, or the one of doctor Kallergis, at Gnospi. ([3])

 

As time passed, the village started to gradually draw the attention of tourists and summer vacationers, as did Stoupa and Kardamyli, despite the fact that, owing to the rocky formation of its coastline it has no beaches, with the exception of the beach called Pantazi.

 

 

The hamlet is located very near to the village of Agios Nicolaos. The hamlet is known for the tower-house of Captain Christodoulos Christeas. Following the road to the next hamlet, Trachela, at 2 km, one reaches a cave by the sea, known to the locals by the name “Katafygio” which according to experts is very interesting.

 

 

Trachela is a hamlet of a few houses by the sea. It is located at about 9.5 km from nearby Agios Nicolaos with which it is connected by a road built as late as 1970. Until then, transportation was carried out exclusively by the sea. The hamlet acted as a seaport of the larger village of Lagada but it equally served all nearby villages.

 

 

Riglia is a small village located on the left of the road leading from Kalamata to Gythion, at the level of Agios Nicolaos. The village and the nearby hamlet of Eleochorio, or Isina, constitute one of the Districts of the Municipality of Leuctro.

 

 

Platsa is a village built at an altitude of 370 meters. It is said that here was the location of ancient Pefnos. In the area there are several small churches the origin of which dates back to the Byzantine era. Among them, mention should be made of Agios Nicolaos, standing at the site known as Cabinari. Near Platsa there are also the hamlets of Pigi and Cotroni.

 

 

Pigi, formerly called Losna, is located at about 54 km from Kalamata and is built at an altitude of 250 meters. In the beginning of the 20th century, its inhabitants numbered about 300.  The patron saint of the village is the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

 

 

As one follows the road towards Milea, at 4 km from Platsa, one reaches the hamlet of Cybelia, former Garbelia. A little further on, there is Milea or Milia, home village of Nikitas Nifakos, poet of Mani. Milea is located on the boundary line delimiting the Prefectures of Messenia and Laconia. The village actually consists of 5 hamlets one of which is Xanthianika.

 

 

Nomitsi is located between Platsa and Thalames (Koutifari). In and around the village, as it happens in most of the villages in the wider area, there are many little churches of Byzantine architecture, evidence of the devoutness of the local population in those times. The village’s main church is the one of Agios Georgios, the bell-tower of which dates back to 1730.

 

 

Thalames, or Koutifari, is a mountain village located 20 km from Kardamyli. Close to the village there are the hamlets Platanos and Somatiana. The area had been granted by the Byzantines as estate to a nobleman named Ioannis Koutifaris and that’s how the village took its name.

In the village there operated a workshop of iconography which produced many Maniotes iconographers who decorated with their paintings many churches in Mani and elsewhere.

 

 

The village is built amphitheatrically on the slope of a hill, between two small ravines, and to this it owes its name. It is a very old village with origins in antiquity. Several tower-houses have survived the time, among which are the towers of Kapitsinos and Economeas as well as the house of Kiskiras (1859). Among the churches, the one of Christ’s Transfiguration should be mentioned which, it is said, was built about a thousand years ago.

 

 

Kastania is a mountain village built at an altitude of 560 meters. Its distance from Saidona and Kardamyli is 3 and 15 km, respectively. The village is hidden in a ravine and cannot be detected unless one reaches close proximity to it. One of the sites of the village is the tower-house of Capetan Dourakis in which Theodore Kolocotronis took refuge during the time of the great persecution of the Kleftes a few years before the declaration of the Revolution.

 

 

Until 1940, the name of the village was Poliana. It is the last village of Messenian Mani, on the road from Kalamata to Gythion. Its name was changed to Agios Nikon in honour of Agios Nikon “the Repent” (Oh Metanohite) who, centuries ago, used to go about preaching the Gospel among the Slav tribe of Melligi who, in the second half of the 10th century AD, had descended and set roots on the western, mountainous, side of Taygetos known since then by the name of Zygos.

At the location known as the Big Rock (Megali Petra) there is the church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel which was originally a monastery. The village’s main church is the church of Sotiras.