It seems that historically and geographically, the Mani is a rough and barren place. Certainly the Maniots appear to have spent most of their lives fighting each other. The only time they were united was when they cast their differences aside and fought the Turks instead.
Moving south into the middle finger of the Peloponnese, the ground becomes very barren, the mountains seem to be closer and the architecture takes on a distinctive Mani look and we know "we're here".
We drove towards the southern tip, which is the most southerly point of mainland Europe. As we did so the weather developed a most Northern Europe feel, with cooler temperatures and cloud with some rain. HAS WWW indeed!
The approach from the mountains to the last few kms of the peninsular, is dramatic, accentuated by the driving position in the Defender which provides a clear view over the edge!
Getting down to those two bays in the distance is straightforward as the road is smooth tarmac, nevertheless it's still steep, dramatic and narrow.
The area is scattered with "Mani towers", distinctive features on many buildings.
So we got to the end and then turned north, up the western side to the town of Areopoli which we have never explored. However, passing a functional garage with mechanics who looked the part, although they were all outside sitting watching the world go by, I couldn't resist a stop to talk Landys.
I actually wanted some brake cleaner spray and when I started to explain this in good old simple English, a Greek bloke seemed to know what I was saying and promptly stood up, went inside and came back with a can.
When he said "That'll be €5 to you sir" he took me a-back and as the conversation moved into the technicalities of squeaky brakes, I realised that this was no ordinary Greek. In fact he had been born to a Greek father, in South Africa, his parents having moved back to Greece on the appointment of "Mandela" to the Presidency in 1994. He thought he'd lost his Sart Affrican accent, but a few sentences in English and he was a dead giveaway.
So armed with more automotive supplies, we were off again, this time over the cliff edge, or so it seemed and down the hairpins to Limeni, formally the port for Areopoli. Now we have been here before and it is the most beautiful bay you have ever seen. It's a natural harbour and now functions as an exclusive holiday location with lovely restaurants and bars, right at the water's edge. On a previous visit we had eaten lobster here ( one of the very few times that has happened so far in my life).
Today however it was something befitting the surroundings, a Cappuchino Freddo ( iced coffee to you and me).
The road to Stoupa snakes its way along the coast and it is a stupendous journey of 50km. As we approached Stoupa we started to have just a few butterflies, as this really is our "destination".
Then we were easing our way off the main road and into the town, where the road is single track and follows the beach around the tiny bay. This is the view from the southern end and this is why we like it here:
The water is crystal clear and is fed with springs of mountain water, which you can see bubbling-up at various points within the bay. The makes for interesting swimming as the spring water is very cold but also fresh. Our favourite activity is to swim across the bay and back, and hitting these cold spots is still a shock!
So here we are. We are in Stoupa, first visited in 2003 with Charlie after she had completed her GCSEs and whilst Jo was completing her trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. That was a great summer, as we had already been to Glastonbury with a group of friends, seen Moby, REM, Radiohead, Steve Harley and many others and that year the summer really didn't seem to end.
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