A problem with the service battery force us to make a stop in Kalamata to wait until we get the new battery ordered from Athens. We take the opportunity to go sightseeing around a city that we always snubbed for no obvious reason. We discover that Kalamata is a rather interesting city where it may be worthwhile stopping for a day or two to stroll around, visit its museum or just do some shopping.
According to the schedule the battery was to be delivered the following morning, so we arrived in the afternoon. We skipped the city heading to Messini as we’ve planned to spend the night next to the sea, in the grove of the beach of Bouka [37.01408,21.99483] where we’ve been several times before.
The place used to be perfect for a pleasant stopover: the parking area has natural shade, it is near the sea, it has public bath where you can empty the cassette toilet and taps along the beach where you can fill your tank … Everything was as perfect as it used to be, apart from the noise! At the time of our visit, a newly opened club situated in the middle of the beach, played disco music at high volumes, making it impossible to sleep …
So we decided to move a few hundred meters further east [37.01689,22.00645]. We passed the bridge and following the dirt road we arrived at the wild side of Bouka. There are no trees but the beach here is isolated and mostly silent !!!
The next morning we went to pick up the battery at the courier office, where we discovered that they’d sent the wrong model! After a round of phone calls we solved the problem, but we had to wait one more day for the right battery to arrive…. Instead of returning to the sea, we decided to go sightseeing. We followed the narrow streets of the old town lined with traditional shops and we soon become aware that there is a Kalamata completely different from that of the promenade, that had seemed touristy and crowded to us…
After a while we arrived at the square where the small byzantine church of the Holy Apostles is located. As you can easily notice there are two churches glued to each other. Yet another weird characteristic is the two opposite doors, that create a strange optical effect …
Just behind this church there is the tourist office that gives a lot of information and a handy map of the city. The Archaeological Museum of Messinia, recently renovated and highly recommended for a visit, lies next door.
The museum is open daily from 8.00 to 20.00 except Mondays when it is open from 13.30 to 20.00. The admission ticket is € 3.
After our visit to the museum we went up to the castle walking past the imposing, but quite anonymous church of Ipapanti (Hypapante or Candlemas) …
… and we finally arrived at the the fortress: the entrance is € 2 and the site is open from 8:00 to 20:00 in summer and from 8.00 to 15.00 in winter, every day except Monday. To be honest there is not much left to see, other than the view of the city. Anyway if it is not a hot day, it can be a pleasant walk.
