Greece - Korina Miller [165]
Eating
There are plenty of tavernas with standard favourites and seafood.
Koukos ( 27230 22950; mains €5-10) A plain, unpretentious and good-ol’-fashioned taverna serving massive portions of grills and oven-baked dishes, to a changing menu. Locals enjoy Koukos for its hearty meals and atmosphere.
Restaurant Grigoris ( 27230 22621; mains €5-14) A great alternative to the central square options. Forget the menu – round off your appetite with the chef’s stove-top displays. In summer there’s a shady garden. On a quiet spot one street north of, and parallel to, the harbour.
There is a supermarket on the central square.
Getting There & Away
From the KTEL Messinia bus station ( 27230 22230) there are bus services to Kalamata (€4.30, 1¼ hours, eight daily), Kyparissia (€5.20, 1¼ hours, four daily) via Nestor’s Palace (€1.80, 30 minutes, four services Saturday and two on Sunday), and Hora (€2, 35 minutes), Methoni (€1.40, 20 minutes, five daily) and Finikounda (€1.80, 30 minutes, three services daily Monday to Saturday, none on Sunday). There are two daily buses to Athens (€24.20, five hours). For Patra, there’s one connection per day at Kyparissia. Services are reduced, if existent, on weekends.
Return to beginning of chapter
GIALOVA ΓΙΑΛΟΒΑ
pop 260
The village of Gialova lies 8km north of Pylos on the northeastern edge of Navarino Bay. It boasts a fine sandy beach and safe swimming in the sheltered waters of the bay. The Gialova Lagoon is a prime birdwatching site in winter (boxed text).
Sleeping & Eating
Camping Erodios ( 27230 28240; www.erodioss.gr; camp sites per adult/tent/car €7/6/4, 2-/4-bed cabins €65/75; ) This great camping nest is northwest of the village on the road leading out to the Gialova Lagoon and Paleokastro. It has a good stretch of beach on Navarino Bay and great facilities.
Hotel-Restaurant Zoe ( 27230 22025; www.hotelzoe.com; s/d/tr incl breakfast €58/70/110; ) This formerly small family-run place on the seafront near the pier is morphing into a complex of rooms and apartments (located in a resort-like section behind). We like the hotel rooms with the small front balcony, although they’re potentially noisy if Zoe’s outdoor taverna rocks on.
Elia ( 6946006875; mains €6-14) Gourmet Greek might well describe the dishes served at this contemporary Mediterranean eatery. The stuffed bream and octopus can only be outdone by the ambience, with its trendy designer lights and flower boxes.
Getting There & Away
There are four buses a day south to Pylos (€1.40, 15 minutes) and five north to Kyparissia via Nestor’s Palace and Hora. A taxi between Gaivola and Pylos costs around €8.
Return to beginning of chapter
AROUND GIALOVA
Paleokastro
The ruins of this ancient castle lie 5km west of Gialova on rugged Koryphasion Hill, a formidable natural defensive position overlooking the northern entrance to Navarino Bay.
The road out to the castle is signposted on the northern edge of the village. It crosses the narrow spit of land that separates Navarino Bay from the Gialova Lagoon, and finishes at a car park at the southern end of the hill. Signs point to the beginning of a rough track that snakes up the steep hillside to the castle entrance.
The castle was built by the Franks at the end of the 13th century, and sits on the site of the acropolis of Ancient Pylos. It was occupied in 1381 by Spanish mercenaries from Navarra, after whom the bay is named.
The car park is also the starting point for another track that skirts around the base of Koryphasion Hill to Voidokilia Beach. This beautiful, sandy horseshoe bay is presumed to be Homer’s ‘sandy Pylos’, where Telemachus was warmly welcomed when he came to ask wise old King Nestor the whereabouts of his long-lost father, Odysseus, King of Ithaca. There’s another path up to the castle from the southern side of the beach that passes Nestor’s Cave. According to mythology,