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🗺️ Guide Basics
🌆 Guide Goal: To help discover Kalamata and the nearby areas organically, avoiding superficial tourist areas and preferring authentic experiences over gentrified areas and stores.
🔑 Golden Rule: I am strictly including places I have visited myself. Everything I will be writing here, comes solely from personally visiting and experiencing these places; no word-of-mouth mentions are involved.
🚘 Transportation: A car is not necessary to follow my guide but certainly helps, especially for distant destinations. Bus routes and bicycles (for around-town commuting) can help you cover some distance too, if you won’t be using a car.
🗺️ Seasons: This guide includes places to visit year-round, but if it's your first visit, aim for warm months, to enjoy the gorgeous beaches you'll see below.
🌡️ Health and Heat Precautions
Greece is a very warm country in the summer and Kalamata is even more so. Make sure you enjoy your visit safely, by:
📅 Preferring to visit during the warm, but not the warmest months, like May and June, or September-October;
🧴 Always carrying sunscreen, water and look for shade if you are going to be out for long, around noon and afternoon hours.
🏖️ Investing in cheap beach umbrellas and foldable chairs, to make your visits to wild beaches safer and more enjoyable.
🏝️ Wild Beaches
For beach selections, I gravitate away from Kalamata’s main coast, Navarinou Str., since it has generally become overcrowded, touristy, and the beaches themselves are not as good as other ones that you can visit with just a short drive away from Navarinou. I’ll still have an organised beach portion later, if that’s your cup of tea
📍Note: Being wild beaches, some are not mapped properly, so you will see some entries where I have, instead, included a pin of nearby stores/landmarks; from there, I offer some simple instructions that walk the rest of the way (the are all extremely close by).
Visiting wild beaches will allow you to relax and swim in some of the most beautiful, crystal clear waters in the area that are usually less common in organised beach portions.
🍹Organised Beaches & Bougee Alternatives
Not feeling too adventurous or just want to relax without having to carry a small house worth of stuff with you each time you go for a swim?
Kalamata is full of organised beaches with sunbeds across the entire Navarinou coastal road, and most of the coasts of the nearby areas, which I am mentioning more as a fact, than a compliment.
Still, they are there, and even people who often prefer wild beaches, me included, find ourselves in some of these areas every now and then.
☕️ Cafés & Brunch
As already explained, I am generally a fan of cafés or restaurants in Navarinou Street. I won’t advise you to go out for your way to visit any of them in particular (with one exception I will support below), since most of them serve okay food and drinks, but I feel that if you visit one, you have visited all of them (save for their decorations).
Having said that, most of my selections here are not on Navarinou Street. Still, Navarinou is, of course, worth exploring and getting some drink or food from any place there, won’t hurt.
Most places I mention in this guide in general, offer more than just one type of food or drink. So, for many places, you can visit either for lunch, dinner, or coffee. My categorisation is purely out of my own experience, but you can of course, mix it up.
🍽️ Food Time
This is one of the toughest sections to create, chiefly because it is easier to have a medium-to-good food experience, than a poor one in Kalamata.
So, my selections are focused on places I have been frequenting for decades, or which I consider worth visit for having good fundamentals (food, scenery, service, etc.).
Many of the included places serve both lunch and dinner. For the places that serves during specific hours, I’ll let you know.
🌯 Souvlakia Tzimmis: Came for the food, stayed for the company
I can hardly remember the last time that, at the sound of “Tzimmis”, I thought of the souvlaki place, before thinking of Tzimmis, the person. Visiting since I was a toddler, it’s been 20 years and counting, of wonderful food, and even more wonderful conversations with Tzimmis, whom I have come to consider a dear friend.
I’ll start with the food itself. Tzimmis is a souvlaki place. You get some pita with various different meat choices, you can add a greek salad to share and some fried potatoes (locally sourced from Taygetus, of course) - and that’s about it. Notably, the souvlaki’s pita is not oiled beforehand, while any meat you choose is cooked without any added dressings. You get to sit either in some of the tables around Tzimmis’ iconic store or around the picturesque plaza next to his place. The souvlakis here are excellent. They are on the chonky side, compared to some other souvlakis that we will mention later, which are more compact, and prices are reasonable.
To me, aside from the food fundamentals, which are solid, Tzimmis warrants his own separate section in this guide, because of history of the surrounding area, the little plaza and church, as well as the kindness of Tzimmis himself, who always cares to have converse with all his friends, new ones and regulars alike (I avoid the term “customer” deliberately, because people very rarely feel like that around Tzimmis, who inspires an organic, dynamic behaviour, far and away from a purely transactional relationship).
Some nights, you may catch some local music (rempetika) being played right in front of Tzimmis, giving you the chance to enjoy wonderful music alongside your food.
Tzimmis’ family has been running this store for 50 years now, while he has been at it since he was 20 years old. Back in the day the general area where the store is, used to be called “Ta Paplomatadika”, roughly translating to “the duvet store area” or “the duvet market”, due the various duvet stores around, some of which are still operating to this day. As some of these stores started closing down and being replaced by other kinds of stores, Tzimmis decided to save and maintain some old-school, hand-drawn greek duvet ads, roughly dating back to 1920. As you will see the moment you get close to Tzimmis’ place, these were only the very first of what came to be an extensive vintage ad collection, which currently cover almost all of the vertical surfaces of his store. When visiting, take the time to try and spot those early duvet & mattress ads, since they are still hanging proud there. Another fun fact about these ads: some would intentionally misspell keywords in the ad itself, to further draw attention.
Tzimmis’ longterm goal is to be able to exhibit all these ads in the form of a fully-fledged museum of greek advertising pieces, as he has grown into a proper collector of such items.
Tzimmis makes great food, but he makes for even better company. You can surely go there just to eat, but I’d advise you to all take a moment to talk to Tzimmis, just to say hi. It won’t hurt to say that Harry sent you there through this guide!
Χειλανθή
🧆 Food excursion: Nedousa & “Χειλανθή”
Enjoying a meal in the family-run taverna of Hilanthi is as much about the place itself, as it is about the journey to get there.
Found in the village of Nedousa, about a 40-minute drive northeast from Kalamata, this short excursion will take you on an astonishing trip alongside Nedontas River, as you navigate steep canyons, revealing breathtaking vistas, as well as routes to some nearby monasteries and remote churches (if you have the time, treat yourself to a little detour there!).
After this worthwhile drive, you will eventually reach the small, beautiful village of Nedousa, while an additional 5-minute drive will elevate you to the higher ground where Hilanthi is.
The food here is wonderful. Everything is locally sourced, while for some materials, like vegetables, the family actually sources it right from their own garden. Everything I have tried there over the years has been fresh and tasty.
Although this is outside Kalamata itself, I am highlight this place for the outstanding experience it provides, both before and while you are there.
Tip 1: Due to Hilanthi’s varying operating hours across different times of the year, make sure to call ahead to make sure they’re open, and also reserve a table while you’re at it.
Tip 2: If you find yourself enjoying the broader scenery, I highly recommend you visit the nearby villages as well. As I haven’t had the chance to have this excursion myself, I won’t include any places currently, but let’s just say Alagonia village is next on my list, both for a trip/hike and food (stay tuned for an update on that!).
Tip 3: Even if you visit during warm months, definitely bring (I am not joking) an overcoat. It is significantly chiller in Nedousa than it is in the warm and humid Kalamata - and I am saying this as a huge bonus in favour of Nedousa and Hilathni, where you can get a breath of literal fresh air, at the same time that Kalamata and other coastal location may be burning in heat.
🍲Food stops
From local, small tavernas and souvlaki places, to fully fledged restaurants, you'll find everything worth visiting to satisfy your hunder in this section!
🌊 Excursions in Peloponnese
⭐ Not just Kalamata, but the entire Peloponnese, is stunning.
Kalamata is very conveniently placed in the centre of what we call "The Three Legs of Peloponnese", with the city being on the middle leg, making for a great base from which embark on various excursions towards the nearby regions, in any direction.
Each region should well have a separate guide unto itslef but, here, I'll highlight some key landmarks, beaches and towns that you can visit, if you want to include some excursions in your visit, so you can get a test of other areas in the Peloponnese as well.
Needless to say, a car is necessary to easily reach these areas. Bus routes do exist for some of the listed areas, but it will be much less convenient than driving their yourselves.
🐂 #1 Journey to the West - Stolen Oxen
We'll start with the left leg, where you'll find, amongst others, the serene town of Pilos, the awe-inspiring beach of Voidokilia!
I’ve sorted the following places in an order that you can visit in a single day, if you want to make the most of your time and only spend a day in this excursion. Obviously, you can (and are encouraged to) mix things up and visit multiple times!
🐢 #2 Southern Mani: Stones and Turtles
From turquoise waters to turquoise waters, along with a spot at mesmerizing Limeni, this tour around Mani will give you a strong taste of the jaw-dropping natural beauty of the region.
This excursion can take longer than the western one, as it includes more stops. Ideally, you want to find a place to stay in a middle location for 1-2 nights, so that you can have plenty of time to explore. You can still go through everything in a single day by car albeit it a faster pace and by prioriotising some of the places.
💸 Money note: Although you will hopefully not experience this, make sure you have plenty of cash with you, since some stores in the region don’t like the idea of having a POS terminal and prefer cash payments (the card-reader may be "out of service" 🙄.
🍞 #3 Eastern Mani: Tripletes & Doves
To complete our excursion series, a short trip to the lower eastern side of the Peloponnese, you’ll find recommendations for (you guessed it), more beaches and food, but in the East!!
🍹 Drinks
Straight up, my achilles heel for recommendations, is nightlife. Still, here are my few but cherished favourites.
🇬🇷 Verga's Historical Significance
"Kato Verga" is often used interchangeably with "Verga'. To clear things out, there are two villages, Kato Verga and Ano Verga (Kato means “lower” and Ano means “upper”)
I live in Kato Verga while Ano Verga is much higher up, only visible from sea level if you are far into the city of Kalamata, to look at the very top of the visible mountain.
Super condensed story snippet: “Verga” translates to "stick". Verga was originally the name of the stone barricade (wall) that proved strategically vital in the Greeks' important victory during the Greek Revolution, against the forces of Ibrahim Pasha, in what came to be known as the Battle of Verga (June 22-25, 1826). The shape and thinness of the wall resembled, at places, a stick, which gave it its name and later became the village's name itself.
📜 History: A Mural Painter in Mount Taygetus
In 1974, my late grandfather, Yannis Karoussos, visited a colleague in Kalamata, to discuss mural painting works. While there, he enjoyed the beauty of the entire area, but was especially mesmermised when he laid eyes on a small village on the foot of Mount Taygetus, called Kato Verga, which oversaw the entire city of Kalamata and the Messinian Gulf. He was quick to get his own little stone-and-wood house in the village, especially given that Vergans were, at the time, relocating closer to sea level due to droughts.
Ever since, my family has shared my grandfather’s love for Kalamata, especially for Verga, which now call our own village, after decades of fond memories with loved ones; some other relatives even got their own Vergan home, after being similarly ensnared by village's beauty.
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