Pílos Museum and Niokastro Fortress

Having arrived in Pílos early we took the opportunity to wander up to the Pílos museum and the castle. The Pílos museum was marked on our map and on street signs as being in town but when we got there the notice on the door told us that it had been closed for a couple of years for refurbishment. Slightly disappointed, we moved onto the next stop, the fortress, and we were delighted to discover that the Pílos museum has been relocated into a new building inside the castle walls.

The Pílos Museum   

Terracotta amphora used as a burial vessel      

There are lots of interesting artefacts from a variety of archaeological sites nearby and a really informative timeline which mapped out the whole of the known history of the area. Dated artefacts were highlighted on the timeline which started as early as the Stone Age. In the Bronze Age, and later, large terracotta amphorae were frequently used as burial vessels, particularly for children. On display was one that had, unusually, been used for an adult’s burial. Within it they had found both the skeletal remains and the valuables needed for the afterlife.

Beautiful glass bowls found in one of the grave sites   

Hunting helmet made of boar tusks and bronze weapons   

At one of the other grave sites the occupants had been buried with exquisite and very precious glass bowls demonstrating how wealthy they had been.

Hunting was a very important pastime and another grave revealed hunting weapons and hunting helmet made from wild boar tusks.

The Voidokoilia Cove; Homer’s "Sandy Pílos"   

At the side of the room was an ancient terracotta bath; apparently, the height of luxury! A little further on was a fabulous aerial photograph of the Voidokoilia Cove. This is the cove we had briefly visited in 2014 in BV and is known as ‘Sandy Pílos’. Ancient Pílos was apparently just to the south of this cove. Homer’s Odyssey records that Telemachus, son of Odysseus, met King Nestor here when he landed, searching for news of his missing father.

There is evidence that the area close to this cove was continually inhabited from the Final Neolithic to the Mycenaean period (1060BC). On the southern promontory, a tholos tomb has been found which is thought to belong to King Nestor’s son Thrasymede. On the northern side is ‘the cave of Nestor’.

All in all, we thought that it was a great little museum and, almost better, we still had the castle outside to visit, so we moved on.

Entrance to the citadel and thick castle walls

The citadel was the original part of the fortress and it dates back to 1573 (Ottoman rule). However, most of what we can see today was constructed during the second period of Venetian rule (1686-1715), the French expeditionary force (1828-1833) as well as some modifications to turn the citadel into a prison during the modern 19^th – mid 20^th century Greek rule.

Inside the citadel – no boring ‘Health and Safety’ barriers here!   

Views from the citadel walls   

Graffiti carved in to the battlements   

We climbed up onto the walls to take advantage of the fabulous views over Navarino Bay. Despite the overcast weather, it was still a great view. As always, we appreciate the Greek approach to safety barriers; there aren’t any, just don’t fall off the edge! In the UK this ancient monument would have been covered in metal barriers under the banner of ‘Health and Safety’. We prefer it as it is.

We also walked a complete circuit of the citadel walls and, judging by the graffiti dating back several hundred years, we were not the first tourists to do so.

The prison cells in the walls of the citadel are now used to store amphorae from wrecks (top left)
and the diving museum (right and bottom left)   

Inside the alcoves of the citadel are display boards which explain the use of amphora in ancient times. Initially, we thought that seemed a bit strange but when we looked into the prison cells we discovered that they are now being used to store hundreds of amphorae found during archaeological dives on ancient shipwrecks. In addition to the town’s archaeological museum, there are two more museums within the walls dedicated to explaining how this underwater archaeological work had been conducted. Both were very well done but sadly no photographs are allowed in them.

When we had sailed into Navarino Bay we had looked up at the imposing church/mosque within the lower part of the fortress. Having explored the citadel we walked down to take a closer look at what is now known as the Church of Transfiguration of the Saviour.

Ottoman Mosque now the Church of Transfiguration of the Saviour   

It was built around 1573 as an Ottoman mosque during the reign of sultan Murad III (1573-1595) but was then conveted to be a Christian church during the Venetian rule (1685-1715). The layout, mihrabs, shape of the arches and ruined base of the minaret clearly showed its original use. We discovered that the building had fallen into disrepair but that it had been restored between 2011-15 which is why it now looks so immaculate.

We walked the grounds of the lower part of the fortress, which is where the people of the town had lived, and then concluded that we had seen everything that there was to see. By now the town was coming alive again after the siesta period and it was time to pick up our hire car. The next morning, we planned to complete the other piece of unfinished business from our 2014 visit here and visit the newly restored archaeological site at Nestor’s Palace.

Pílos, Greece