Pylos

Pylos is a city in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece.

View of Pylos

Understand

The area of Pylos has a variety of landscapes to visit, with their own marvelous geomorphological history.

• The western limestone-ridge
  • The city of Pylos is built on a limestone-ridge which goes north-south. It starts in the south at the town of Methoni, runs to the west of the road Methoni-Pylos where it creates one of the highest hills in the region, Ayos Nikolaos, before it dips to the city of Pylos.
  • To the N of Pylos, the limestone-ridge get's interrupted creating a set of connections between the bay of Navarino and the Ionian sea. Also the amazing bay of Voidokilia is such an interruption in the limestone ridge. It is here that the waves of the Ionias sea created one of the most spectacular beaches of Greece. The breaking up of the limestone ridge caused the creation of the uninhabited island of Sphacteria.
  • The island of Sphacteria has a very steep eastern cliff. This is because a fault-line is running here N-S and you are looking at a fault-mirror. This means that the island was lifted and the area, currently the bay of Navarino dropped. This happened during the Alpine mountain creation (Tertiary).
  • The limestone ridge is not very fertile, and is covered by bushes, low grasses and herb vegetation (maquis). A great place to see snakes. It is mainly used to let sheep and goats graze.
  • Although limestone is known for karst phenomena such as caves and dolines, the number of this kind of phenomena is very limited. Nevertheless, there is a nice cave to visit, just south of Voidokilia. It is now called the Cave of Nestor.
• The eastern limestone-horst
  • To the east of Pylos, a massive limestone bock, is sticking out above the landscape, and forms a plateau.
  • When you take the road from Kalamata to Pylos, you will notice you come down a few hundred meters before you reach the bay of Navarino
  • When you take the road from Methoni to Pylos, you will see on the left (west) the western limestone ridge and to the right (east) the limestone horst.
  • It is in this limestone horst you find the quarry of Paleochori, where you can find some great calcite-minerals.
• The marl-area between Pylos-Kalithea
  • In the tertiary, a sea was covering the whole area around Pylos, with a few exceptions of the highest hill-tops (actually, the land was much lower, and got uplifted later on, rather than the sea being much higher)
  • If you take the road from Pylos to Kalithea, you will see to the south a flat area, mainly covered with olive-groves. This is a marl-plateau, and it was one the bottom of a tertiary see where fine sand and clay were deposited. You can still find a large collection of seashells in the deposits: mainly old forms of oysters.
• The Flysch area to the East of Methoni
• The Plateau of Paleonero

Get in

Voidokilia Bay

Glossa beach

• There are good bus connections from and to the nearby towns of Methoni,Kalamata and Kiparissia. Connections from these towns can get you further to Patra and Athens
• You can get to Kalamata airport from several European countries.
• The taxi services in Pylos (departing from the taxi rank in the main square) are much used. Don't hesitate to ask the price to get to and from Kalamata or Methoni.

Get around

• 50cc scooters are for rent from Martin's shop in Gialova. You will need to get a bus to Gialova from Pylos to reach the shop.
• There is a taxi stand at the main square.
• A bus-stop is also located at the main square. From there you get to the main towns around Pylos.

See

Top 10 things to see in and around Pylos:

• 🌍 Bay of Voidokilia. (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 "New" (Turkish) Castle of Pylos (at the w-part of town). (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 "Old" (Frankish-Venetian) Castle of Pylos (Palaiokastro) (on the hill to the north of Sphacteria and south of Voidokilia). (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 Lagoon of Gialova. a Natura 2000 site with unique fauna and flora (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 Cave of Nestor (south of bay of Voidokilia). mentioned in Homer's Odyssey (updated Mar 2016)
• Bay of Navarino. (updated Mar 2016)
• Palace of Nestor (10 km north of Pylos, on the way to Kiparissia). (updated Mar 2016)
• The Tholos (beehive). tombs nearby (updated Mar 2016)
• Harbour of Pylos. (updated Mar 2016)
• Sunset over the Bay of Navarino and Sphacteria or at Gargaliani beach

Do

• Boat tour around the area of Sphacteria. Boattrips are offered in the harbour of Pylos. The boat trips bring you to the lighthouse at the entrance of the bay of Navarino or Sphacteria.

Buy

• Olives This is the area for olives and olive-oil.
• Grapes The area is also known for its grapes, used for raisins and wines. You can get local wines in most of the bars, but check out especially the wine-bar ""Number 9" (see Drink)
• Honey Bee-keepers put their beehives on the limestone ridges around Pylos, covered with an abundance of Mediterranean flowers. You will find plenty of signs for honey, put there by the local bee-keepers in the villages around Pylos.

Eat

• Restaurant Oasis directly at the mole of gialova on the beach. Fresh fish every day and traditional Greek cuisine at its best. Stunning view over the Navarino bay.
• Taverna O Morias Gialova (near Pylos): Best in quality Greek food cooked with genuine passion.

Drink

• Wine-bar Nr.9 (not the real name, if you know it, please correct). There is a wine-bar just off the main square (Platia), about 100 metres (325 ft), along the road which takes you out of the city, direction Gialova-Kalamata-Kiparrisia. It faces the bay/harbour. It is sometimes called number nine because the owner could explain the world, based on the number 9. He also plays the guitar and the bouzouki.

Sleep

Budget

• Anna's place (Rooms)
• 🌍 Erodios Camping (Gialova Beach), ☎ [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. B Class campsite. Operating period: 15Apr - 15Oct (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 Nilefs Hotel, 4, Pio Rene, ☎ [phone], fax: [phone]-star hotel (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 Zoe Hotel (Gialova Beach), ☎ [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 2-star hotel Operating period: Apr - Oct (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 Kastro Hotel, ☎ [phone], [phone] (Mobile), fax: [phone]-star hotel apartments. Operating period: All year (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 Ta Adelfia Apartments, 4, Anagnostara Str, ☎ [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 2-star hotel (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 Philip Apartments, ☎ [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 2-star hotel (updated Mar 2016)

Mid-range

• 🌍 Miramare Hotel, ☎ [phone], [phone] (Mobile), fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 3-star hotel (updated Mar 2016)

Splurge

• 🌍 The Westin Resort Costa Navarino, ☎ [phone], [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 5-star hotel built in 2010 (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 The Romanos, A Luxury Collection Resort, Costa Navarino, ☎ [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 5-star hotel built in 2010 (updated Mar 2016)

Go next

Routes through Pylos

Patra ← Olympia ←	N  S	→ Methoni
Pylos ←	W  E	→ Kalamata → Sparta