A Lighthouse “At the End of the World”

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)          The lighthouse on Cape Tenaro in southern Peloponnese has been totally restored and renovated, and now has its own full-time guard.   The renovation was undertaken by the Ekaterini Laskaridis Foundation in collaboration with the Lighthouses Service of the Hellenic Navy and competent ministries.  Cape Tenaro also known as Cape Matapan or “the end of the world” is the southernmost point not only of mainland Greece but also of the European continent and the site of a cave claimed to be the mythological entrance – home of Hades, the god of the dead. Located in eastern Mani, Laconia prefecture, Cape Tenaro was firstly mentioned by Homer in his “Iliad.”

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Visit Greece: The Mani Region

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)    The Mani region of the Peloponnese is characterised by grey rocky mountains. With fertile land scarce, blood-feuds were a way of life, so families constructed towers to use as refuges. In the Diros caves, once inhabited by Neolithic people, visitors are taken on a boat trip along the subterranean river through narrow tunnels and immense caverns filled with clusters of stalactites and stalagmites. “Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese” by Patrick Leigh Fermor is part travelogue, part evocation of the past and a glorious fusion of imagination and history by one of the greatest of Greece’s philhellene writers. Fermor’s account of his journey through Mani peninsula, an inspiring and untouched region of the Peloponnese, unlocks the secrets of the local people and culture whose roots stretch back to Byzantium. Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor, is a British author, scholar and soldier, who played a prominent role behind the lines in the Battle of Crete during World War II. He is considered as one of the world’s great travel writers. The Mani Peninsula attracts visitors for its magnificent castles, stunning scenery, and superb beaches. Mani is also known for unique culinary products and what is probably the world’s best extra-virgin olive oil. Webguide: www.maniguide.info

Exploring Greece

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)  Natacha Du Pont De Bie (“Super Mani,” The Guardian”, 8.3.2008) discovers Mani, a blissfully uncluttered and pristine corner of Greece: “Olive groves opaque with pollen, meadows carpeted with wild flowers, melting snow water gushing down mountain-sides before sinking into underground streams to reform as icy tendrils that curl about one’s feet on early morning swims from empty beaches. This is springtime in the Mani, the far-flung central peninsula of the Peloponnese…”  Secretariat General of Information: World Media on Greece – Food, Wine and Travel