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J O U R N E Y S | TA I N A R O N B L U E R E T R E AT
C
APE TAINARON MARKS the south-
ernmost point of Peloponnese,
Greece. Antiquity claims these
lands. Greek mythology points
to a Tainaron cave as the house
of Hades and, therefore, gateway to the
Underworld, and there ruins here are
dedicated to the sea god Poseidon who,
when he wasn't protecting seafarers, was
siding with the Greeks in their war against
the Trojans only to later rage at their hero
Odysseus, sending the beleaguered Itha-
can king wave after wave of storms, sea
monsters and treacherous new shores to
thwart his journey home.
Unlike Odysseus, perhaps, one is quite
willing to wash up on the shores of Cape
Tainaron. While not quite at the end of the
world, it is at the end of the Mani Peninsula,
which is remote enough to feel that way.
Arid, weathered and strong-featured, it is
an immensely beautiful place of dry stone
walls, low shrubs, and shallow rock pools,
along with winding roads and picturesque
villages like Oitylo (so old it is mentioned as
Oetylus in "The Iliad") and the 16th century
settlement Vathia. The latter is nearby to
a striking watchtower. An unequivocally
Mani construction originally designed
to keep intruders at bay, the fortification
comes as a bolt from the blue, as if it
might have descended from the sky itself.
