Friday, March 4, 2011

Kalamata, Greece - should have been posted earlier!

We went into Kalamata for market day, which was on a Wednesday, but I have trouble believing it is only one day a week. This would be worth investigating further. It is a very good market.


Kalamata was heavily damaged by an earthquake in 1986. It has been rebuilt and looks very nice. Previous to our trip I had read that it was quite a boring city, but I really liked it. The town planners took advantage of the earthquake having destroyed so much of the city and did a good job of re-establishing the city with the industrial areas separate from the residential areas. While at our rental I read an interesting article about the man who was mayor at the time of the earthquake, and who directed the intelligent rebuilding of the city. If I ever find it online I will link to it here, as the mayor is a very interesting individual! He currently has a mission to save the numerous ancient Greek theaters and is fundraising to do so.

The distance from Stoupa to Kalamata is not great, only about 45 km, but the road is very winding and hence slow, taking about an hour to travel the distance!

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