Voidokilia Beach
ฮฮฟฯฮดฮฟฮบฮฟฮนฮปฮนฮฌ
Interesting facts
- The dunes and lagoon around the bay shelter the only population of the African chameleon in Europe, a species thought to have arrived here in Roman times.
- Of the roughly 258 bird species recorded at the neighbouring Gialova Lagoon, 79 are listed in the Red Book of species threatened with extinction.
- Nestor's Cave below the old castle measures about 20 by 16 metres and rises around 30 metres high, with finds spanning the Final Neolithic to early Hellenistic times.
- Heinrich Schliemann, the excavator of Troy, was among the first to dig in Nestor's Cave, in 1874.
- The tholos tomb above the beach is about 5 metres across, its floor covered with pebbles, and it held around seven burials.
- Grave goods from the tomb include arrowheads, necklaces of carnelian and amethyst, and Mycenaean pottery.
- The oldest burials at the tomb site, placed in large clay storage jars, date back to the Middle Helladic period, before the tholos itself was built.
- Old Navarino Castle was raised by the Frankish lord Nicholas II of Saint-Omer in the 1280s, partly from reused ancient stone, on a rock about 200 metres high.
- The castle hill is the site of the Athenian fort of the Battle of Pylos in 425 BC, one of the most famous episodes of the Peloponnesian War.
- The French called the harbour Port-de-Jonc, and the name Navarino is thought to come from Navarrese mercenaries who held the castle in the late 14th century.
Why it is worth it
Voidokilia is one of those beaches whose shape you remember before anything else. Seen from the hills above, it is an almost perfect semicircle of pale sand closing a small bay of the Ionian Sea, so regular that it is usually compared to the Greek letter omega. The arc is not just a beach but a narrow bar of dunes: on the seaward side lies sheltered, shallow water; on the landward side spreads the Gialova Lagoon, one of the most important wetlands in Greece for migrating birds. Close to the village of Petrochori and the town of Pylos in Messinia, the whole area belongs to the Natura 2000 network.
The bay is framed by rock at both ends, and history clings to it. On the southern headland stand the ruins of Paleokastro, the Old Navarino Castle, a Frankish fortress built in the 1280s overlooking both the lagoon and the great bay of Navarino. Below its walls opens a cave that local tradition links with King Nestor of Pylos, the wise old ruler of Homer's poems; archaeologists have been investigating it since the 1870s. Facing it across the bay, above the northeastern end of the beach, is a Mycenaean tholos tomb, excavated in the 1950s and traditionally attributed to Thrasymedes, Nestor's son. Few beaches offer a Homeric landscape this literally.
The lagoon behind the dunes is a world of its own. Over two hundred and fifty bird species have been recorded there, many of them listed as threatened, and in spring and autumn flamingos, herons and waders stop over on their way between Africa and Europe. The pleasure of Voidokilia is to combine the two: to swim in the calm water of the omega, then climb the path to the castle and look down on the curve of sand, the reed beds and the open sea at once. The castle path is steep and rough, so sturdy shoes help.
Getting there
Voidokilia lies in the southwestern Peloponnese, a short way north of Pylos; Kalamata, the regional capital, is about 41 km away in a straight line. The nearest airport is Kalamata Airport (KLX), about 34 km away. The beach is reached by car along sand tracks, either from the parking area by the Gialova Lagoon or from the side of the village of Petrochori. There is no town at the beach itself, so bring water and shade.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Voidokilia Beach is a popular beach in Messinia, southern Greece, on the Ionian Sea. In the shape of the Greek letter omega (ฮฉ), its sand forms a semicircular strip of dunes. On the land-facing side of the strip of dunes is Gialova Lagoon, an important bird habitat. The beach has been named "A Place of Particular Natural Beauty". It is part of a Natura 2000 protected area.
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