Greece Cities: Pilos

Compact, but the surprisingly elegant city of Pylos (Pylos) with his two medieval castles guarding the entrance to the Bay of Navarin (Navarino, Navarone) – one of the most beautiful natural harbors in Greece. "Land of sand pilos, city of wise king Nestor", Whose Palace of the XIII century BC is indeed found 16 kilometers north of the modern city, since the time of Homer Pyos is known as one of the most important ports of the region.

sights

Now it is a quiet and very pretty city, famous for its ancient streets, running along the slope of the mountain, colorful embankment, Memorial Battle with Navarian, small Archaeological Museum and of course, Fortress neo-Castro (open from Thursday to Sunday from 8.30 to 15.00; 3 euros) built by Turks in 1572-1573. Work is underway on the alteration of the fortress in the museum of underwater archeology, although its halls still contain an extensive collection of historical paintings and miniatures.

Medieval Paleo Castro Fortress (Castro Navarino) crowns on the northern side of the long and narrow island of the spinity, which enlightened the bay from the west. Underground passage connects it with the so-called Spilioto Nestoros ("Nestor’s cave"), in which, as the same says "Odyssey" Homer, this mythical king contained cattle, and Hermes hid the cows of Apollo. But the main point of attraction here is a memorial in honor of the died during the battle at Navarina on October 20, 1827, during which the united fleet of Great Britain, Russia and France has crushed the Turkish squadron, without losing a single ship. You can even rent a boat and swim with a mask and a tube among the sands of the Turkish fleet who are semi-footed by the sands lying on the seabed.

Around the city

6 kilometers north of Pilos, on the shore of the same Bay of Navarin lies the town Yalova (Gialova, Yialova) – Excellent beach holiday center with well-developed infrastructure.

6 kilometers from the north-west begins one of the best shores of Peloponnese – a magnificent crescent of the purest sand and dunes of the bay Vidokilla (Voidhokilia). Local lagoon is an environmental zone – thousands of birds nest around it in the swampy areas, and on the beaches there are marine turtles eggs, so the passage of vehicles around the eastern part of the bay is prohibited. But north, on the beach Novel (Romanos), built a large golf resort, and in the south of the hand to the castle of Paleo Castro and Nestor Cave.

1.5 km from here (and 17 km from Pilos) lies another unique object – Ano-Egnianos, or "Palace Nesor" (in the summer open on Thursday and Friday from 8.00 to 19.30, Saturday and Sunday – from 8.30 to 15.00; In winter – daily from 8.30 to 15.00; 3 euros) – the residence of the chimemifical king of the Mycenaan era, which ruled the western part of the Peloponnese and sent to the walls of Troy the second largest fleet ("Ninety black ships") Among all the participants of this epic campaign. Interestingly, according to Homer "Odyssey" Nestor took the telemace, the son of Odyssey, and offered him a bath with aromatic oils – and exactly the same structure was found in the excavations of the palace. Yes, and the foundations of the walls are preserved as well that it is quite allowed to judge the accuracy of the description of the palace "Great Slept". Now the main palace in the middle of the site is open archaeologists (it is considered the most fully preserved complex of the Mycenaan era in Greece), an earlier smaller palace, a complex of household construction buildings to the left of the main building and round funeral Tolos, very similar to similar facilities in the mixes. But the main sensation of this place is a few hundred plates with inscriptions on the so-called "Linear letter B". These are the first samples of this writing found by scientists on the mainland and thus proving a close relationship between the Mycena and Mina civilizations. In the town of Choir there is a small archaeological museum (officially opened from Thursday to Sunday from 8.30 to 15.00, but in reality it works on a free schedule; 2 euros), but his collection is relatively small.

The coast north of Pilos is famous for its sufficiently diverse shores – here there are both beautiful sandy beaches, and sufficiently low, so and secluded coves with pebble shores. They are relative "anonymity" Easily explained by a rather small number of roads (the main highway is removed by 3-5 km from the shore) and abundance of more affordable shores in the north, in the pontra area. The most interesting shores include the beaches of Maratopolis and is the proth in directly opposite it, as well as the long sandy coast between Philitars and Cypress.