Koróni

We left Petalídhion at 0925hrs on 19 April. The 10-knot wind was blowing from the south, exactly the direction we wanted to travel, but that was not an issue because we only planned to move about 10nm down the coast to Koróni. With the wind on our nose we covered that 10 miles with 2 tacks, a zig-zag out to the east.

Anchored off Koróni   

We dropped our anchor in the bay off Koróni at 1245hrs having had a very pleasant 17 mile sail. Whilst looking ashore at Petalídhion had not enthused us to inflate the dinghy, in comparison Koróni seemed to have much more character. The quay was lined with café umbrellas, there seemed to be much more activity and, on the skyline, there was a large castle which looked to be worth exploring.

With an eye on the weather we half expected to be in Koróni for a couple of nights and so our foray ashore was primarily to get the lie of the land. The town had food shops, a bakery, a mini-market and lots of shops geared towards summer tourists. The central square by the church was also quite busy and the place very much had the feel of it gearing up for summer.

Plan of Koróni castle   

The castle was too tempting not to take a quick look. It turns out that it was a very significant castle during the Byzantine era. It, and our next port of call, Methóni, were strategic locations controlling the key west/east trading route. These 2 locations became very powerful commercial ports and were the “eyes” of Venice who controlled the forts for nearly 3 centuries (1206-1500).

The Ottomans then took over from 1500-1685 when it was Venetians’ turn again from 1685-1715. From 1715-1821 the Ottomans were in charge but, after the Naval Battle of Navarino (6 July 1827), the destruction of the Turkish fleet and the end of the Greek War of Independence, the castle was surrendered to French forces. In 1828, it fell into the hands of the liberated Greeks. During World War 2 it was used as a base by the invading Italian and German forces.

Church of the Virgin Mary Eleistria   

Southern walls   

Nowadays, it is the only Messenian Castle that remains inhabited. The monastery of Timios Prodromos occupies the entire western side of the castle and the eastern side has lots of houses and fields. That actually made it quite hard to explore because of the private land. We had expected to take a nice photograph of BV from the castle walls but couldn’t find a way to get to them on the northern side.

The southern side was easy to get to and we could both look over the walls and walk down through a gate to the Church of the Virgin Mary Eleistria.

We were particularly interested in looking into the bay here by Zanga Beach because it was a possible alternative anchorage for the morning when the wind was due to veer around to the northwest and make our current anchorage uncomfortable.

Our plan was to get up early, move BV around to this southern anchorage and then spend the day there visiting the town again. However, the wind shift and subsequent increase in wind strength were much later coming than forecast and when we got up the following morning it was calm. Conscious that, ultimately, we wanted to get around the last of the Peloponnese capes, Akritas, we seized the opportunity, bypassed the rather swelly southern anchorage, and headed on towards Methóni. We’d have to leave a proper explore of Koróni to another visit. 

Koróni, Greece