Leaving Kalamata by the north you will pass through Central Messinia and you will discover its richness which makes it so particular: ancient temples, medieval castles, byzantine churches, ruins of ancient places, natural paradise and pretty traditional Greek village? all these beauty places are waiting for you. Taygetos, the mountain range that extends between Messinia region and Laconia region, will also open its arms. Kalamata is just on the foot of this mountainous formation and from the city you can observe the majestic mountain. But if you really want to observe it, the best thing is to walk inside it and to make a trekking like in Neda River.

By reading the followings texts you will see how Central Messina is a surprising area as there are different landscapes and places to see and you will definitely have the desire to go by yourself to discover them.

You can first discover Messini, the second largest city of Messinia (10.000 inhabitants) after Kalamata (located 7km from kalamata).

"But if you are in the road of Messini, go directly to ?Paralia Messini?, the beach of Messini, some nice beach bar with DJ, activities are waiting for you" - Hinde Hoummani EVS 2006

30km up to Kalamata, you will find out one of the best preserved ruins: Ancient Messini.

"The road until Ancient Messini pass among hills and rivers and the landscape is really interesting" - Nicola Alimenti EVS 2005

"The most beautiful building is the stadium because it is in a good condition and according to the stadium you can imagine how it was in this time" - Janosch Kilpper EVS 2005

Up to the road from Mavromati (village few metres remote to Ancient Messini) to Valira, there is the Voulkanos Monastery kept by an old man.

"It?s a very quiet, peaceful with a nice church inside, where usually some sweets are offered to visitors" - Alexis Julien EVS 2005

Following the main road to Kyparissia (Κυπαρισσία), you can visit: the Ancient Palace of Nestor (Ανάκτορο Νέστορα)and the Archaeological Museum of Chora.

"There are only few pieces of stones left because of wars. So we have to imagine hard how the palace was "- Lidia Moussa EVS 2006;

Another interesting place to visit is the Temple of Epikourios Apollo which is located in the town of Nea Figali. You have to pay attention to the road signs because you can easily get lost as there are not many of them.

"The temple is ? an extraordinary example of ancient Greek architecture" - Maria Jesus EVS 2005

You can also spend your days just by travelling around the Neda valley discovering the nature, the beauty of this area.

"Mountains around Neda River are beautiful and a lot of small village give to the area a special charm. There are only secondary roads and tracks so the trip is slow and let you observe and enjoy the landscape" Maria Jesus EVS 2005

But make sure that your road brings you to:

>> Neda River!