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Kardamyli (Greek: Καρδαμύλη, variously transliterated as Kardamyle, Cardamyle, Kardhamili, and Kardamili, and sometimes called “Skardamoula”, especially on old maps) is a town by the sea thirty-five kilometers southeast of Kalamata, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of West Mani in the regional unit of Messenia on the Mani Peninsula.^[2]

In the Iliad (Book 9^[3]), Homer cites Kardamyli as one of the seven cities offered by Agamemnon to Achilles as a condition to rejoin the fight during the Trojan War. The village preserves its ancient name.

The area is filled with beaches: Ritsa, Belogianni, Salio, Tikla, Amoni, Santava. The older town includes a mediaeval castle and outworks, and the imposing church of Saint Spyridon. Many of the buildings of Old Kardamyli, also known as Pano Kardamyli, or “Upper Kardamyli” were built by the Venetians and feature a mix of traditional Greek and Venetian design. The skyline of Kardamyli, like many other Maniot towns and villages, is dominated by the distinctive regional architectural of the various towers built by scions of the Nikliani clans, the mediaeval aristocracy of the Mani.

Monemvasia (Greek: Μονεμβασιά, Μονεμβασία, or Μονεμβάσια) is a town and municipality in Laconia, Greece. The town is located in mainland Greece on a tied island off the east coast of the Peloponnese, surrounded by the Myrtoan Sea. Monemvasia is connected to the rest of the mainland by a tombolo 400 metres (1,300 ft) in length.^[2]

In 1890, a small part of the natural tombolo was cut to create an artificial bridge for ships and boats.^[3] Its area consists mostly of a large plateau some 100 m (330 ft) above sea level, up to 300 m (980 ft) wide and 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) long.

Founded in the sixth century, and thus one of the oldest continually-inhabited fortified towns in Europe, the town is the site of a once-powerful medieval fortress, and was at one point one of the most important commercial centres in the Eastern Mediterranean. The town’s walls and many Byzantine churches remain as testaments to the town’s history. Today, the seat of the municipality of Monemvasia is the town of Molaoi.^[4]

Koroni or Corone (Greek: Κορώνη) is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestor, of which it is a municipal unit.^[2] Known as Corone by the Venetians and Ottomans, the town of Koroni (pop. 1,193 in 2021) sits on the southwest peninsula of the Peloponnese on the Gulf of Messinia in southern Greece, 56 km (35 mi) by road southwest of Kalamata.^[3] The town is nestled on a hill below a Venetian castle and reaches to the edge of the gulf. The town was the seat of the former municipality of Koróni, which has a land area of 105 km² (41 sq mi)^[4] and a population of 3,600 (2021 census). The municipal unit consists of the communities Akritochori, Charakopio, Chrysokellaria, Falanthi, Kaplani, Kompoi, Koroni, Vasilitsi, Vounaria and Iamia.^[2] It also includes the uninhabited island of Venétiko.

Kalamata (Greek: Καλαμάτα [kalaˈmata]) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnesepeninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regional unit, it lies along the Nedon River at the head of the Messenian Gulf.

The 2021 census recorded 72,906 inhabitants for the wider Kalamata Municipality, of which 66,135 resided in the municipal unit of Kalamata, and 58,816 in the city proper.^[1] Kalamata is renowned as the land of the Kalamatianos dance, Kalamata olives and Kalamata olive oil.

Kitries is a coastal historic village of Messinia, or Messinian Mani, which formerly belonged to the province of Oitylos in the Prefecture of Laconia. It is located at the NE end of the Messinian Gulf, 15 km southeast of Kalamata.