The Mani Page 12

The Mani, to be fair, is impeccably clean and its topography dramatic, but all of Greece is dramatic so you don't have to drive all the way to the end of Cape Teneron (left) to experience it and when you finally arrive its not exactly inviting. If you are scouting locations for the witness protection program then it may be worth a visit. How about a road sign or a gas station or some vestige of humanity please? Maybe I had one of those twilight zone moments and took every wrong turn and ended up in a parallel dimension but maybe not.

Looking around for something to do I dragged my poor girlfriend, who hates enclosed, damp and wet spaces into the Diros caverns, which as caverns go, were very nice, wet, damp, dark, cold. You take a little boat and the man sculls you around so keep your hands in the boat or you will break a bone and knock off a precious stalagmite or stalactite and be fined and probably not be allowed to keep it a souvenir either.

Maybe I didn't give the Mani the attention it deserves but although I saw some nice beaches, always tantalizingly around the next bend, its not a user friendly type of place and I don't mean mass tourism oriented. I mean there are hardly any signs, places to eat or to even use the toilet. There was absolutely no shade or greenery either when I went the first time which was in summer.

Paul, the honest Greek taxi driver and manager of Oracle private bus and taxi tours, being from Sparta, may know how to show you a good time in the Mani and I guess if you are visiting Monemvasia its certainly worth driving around. I am sure, to while away the endless hours, they make some really strong and intoxicating alcoholic beverages in the Mani .. illicitly of course!

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