MONUMENTS NEAR VILLA VOIDOKOILIA

Palaiokastro

(Distance from Villa Voidokoilia
- 1.5 km)
Pylos hosts two castles, Niokastro and Palaiokastro, true Navarino . Palaiokastro or Palaionavarino, built by the Franks around 1278, has a rectangular shape with many square and round towers. Next to the castle is the Nestor's cave mentioned by Pausanias, where, according to tradition, Hermes hid the cows that he had stolen from Apollo while, according to myth, Nileas and his son Nestor used the cave for a stall . Niokastro was built in 1573 by the Ottomans at the entrance of Navarino's natural bay and consists of the upper and lower castles. Characteristic of the upper castle is the acropolis of hexagonal shape. The lower castle, larger in size, includes two square bastions (the western and the northern). Inside the castle there is a Turkish aqueduct and the ruins of the Gothic church of the Transfiguration of the Savior. The church was built by the Franks, then turned into a mosque and today it functions as an orthodox temple. It is worth mentioning that the "Underwater Archaeological Research Center" operates within the castle. .

Ancient Messene

(Distance from Villa Voidokoilia
- 50 km)
Messene is one of the great in size, preserved and preserved cities of antiquity, which still has much to offer. It has not only sanctuaries and public buildings, but also imposing fortifications and residences and funerary monuments. It has, among other things, the rare privilege of not being destroyed or covered by younger settlements and being in a predominantly Mediterranean unspoiled natural environment. This natural environment combines the mountainous majesty of Delphi and the low riverside serenity of Olympia, with the dominating bare calcareous mass of Ithomi, where the acropolis, and the low fertile valley around the ancient city.

Palace of King Nestor

(Distance from Villa Voidokoilia
- 7 km)
The palace of Nestor, in "Upper Iglianos", is one of the most important monuments of Mycenaean Greece. The palaces were built in the 13th century. B.C. from the wise King Nestor of the Homeric Years - who took part in the Trojan War, which turned Pylos into the second most important city of the Mycenaean world after Mycenae. The surrounding landscape was calm and the palace area never stood up, unlike the other Mycenaean citadels. The palaces were almost completely destroyed in the early 12th century by a fire and never rebuilt. In 1939, K. Kountouriotis identified the position of the prehistoric palace, whose disclosure was continued and completed by American Carl Bleggen.

Museum of Chora (Ancient Pylos)

(Distance from Villa Voidokoilia
- 9 km)
The Museum was created to house the most important findings. The collection of the Archaeological Museum of Chora far exceeds its local significance, due to the volume and character of its findings. The archaeological collection of the Museum consists of vases and other objects, most of which date back to the Late Mycenaean times (about 1550-1100 BC). It is undoubtedly one of the richest and most instructive collections of Mycenaean finds in Greece.

Castles

(Distance from Villa Voidokoilia
- 60 km)
The Koroni Castle (6th or 7th century AD) is one of the most elegant examples of Venetian fortress architecture and is one of the few castles that house and houses are preserved inside. temples. The church of Agia Sophia and Agios Charalambos stand out - an old Catholic church that the Turks turned into a mosque and now functions as an Orthodox temple. The town of Methoni was in medieval times one of the most important commercial and naval centers in the Mediterranean. An irrefutable witness of its wealth and power is its castle, built in the 7th century on a rocky cape, which was also used as a defensive fortress of the Byzantines (395 AD - 1204 AD). In the northern part of it we find the fortified citadel, and many important buildings, including the ruins of houses, two Turkish baths, the Byzantine church of Agia Sophia, the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior, several tanks and remains of a British cemetery prisoners of World War II.

Apollo's Temple

(Distance from Villa Voidokoilia
- 40 km)
The Temple of Epicurion Apollo in Bases of Figaleia is one of the most prominent and imposing of antiquity. It was dedicated by the Fighans to Apollo because it helped them overcome a plague epidemic. The temple is towering over 1,130 meters, in the center of the Peloponnese, on the mountains between Ilia, Arcadia and Messenia and is located 90 kilometers from Villa Voidokoilia. The temple was erected in the second half of the 5th century BC. (420-410 BC) and is attributed to Iktino, the Parthenon architect. This monument with universal significance and at the same time one of the best surviving classical antiquity was the first one in Greece that was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1986.