Peloponnese Road Trip Part 2 - Petalidi, Messini & Kalamata, including Voidokilia Beach and Polylimnio Waterfalls
We arrive in Petalidi in the afternoon for our 4 nights at the very nice and comfortable Olive Garden Apartments (25 euros a night and excellent value for money). So comfortable we decide to stay an extra night. We go to Messini for lunch and it's very disappointing, small portions and a greasy affair with warm rose wine served with ice cubes, thanks for nothing Tripadvisor. We go for runs and very long walks along the beach, have a lovely barbecue at the communal BBQ area and soak up the vibe of the Kalamata region. We also decided we are not going to Kalamata town as it’s supposed to be just another big city. That’s until we read about Nikitas Restaurant, at the municipal markets. As you know, our motto is, "will travel for food". Kalamata here we come. We decide to park in the outskirts and walk 7kms into town, check out the nice, long city beach and make our way to the restaurant. Totally worth the walk, seriously very local, everything we cherish about this country. We order 2 portions of fries, tzatziki, souvlaki pita, 2 pork souvlaki skewers, bread and a litre of rose wine, all for 17 euros, whats not to love? We then, of course, need to walk the 7kms back to the car but drive home very satisfied indeed. We wake up the next morning and make our way to another famous, Instagram icon, Voidokilia beach. We go early in the morning and pretty much had one of the most gorgeous beaches we have ever seen to ourselves. The beach is in a perfect horse shoe shape (the letter Omega in the Greek alphabet), a very tranquil bay in a national park, no beach bars or any kind of construction to spoil mother nature’s perfection. Highly recommended. We then make our way to the small, very pleasant town of Pylos, a step back in time to old Greece, another perfect day. On our last morning in this region, we decide to go for something completely different and after a short drive, we hike to the Polylimnio waterfalls (not recommended if it's been raining as there are some safety concerns regarding this trail). The hike is just gorgeous and the waterfalls are incredible and still full even after a long summer, just check out our photos and you can see the smiles on our faces. Feeling like we explored most of what this gorgeous region has to offer, we are ready to move to our next stop.
