As a destination, Arcadia is most commonly identified with its mountainous part – Dimitsana, Vytina and the beautiful slopes of Menalon. At the same time, it also has a smaller, coastal side. The three days of Carnival – due to the mobile nature of the celebration – is a special time for travel: the weather can be either very cold, pleasantly warm or both. This makes Leonidio, the beautiful, seaside town of Arcadia, on the shores of the Myrto Sea and below Mt Parnonas, an excellent choice, ideal for the season especially if you decide to travel at the last minute.
The main problem we faced on our last visit here was that we didn’t have a suitable vehicle. We found our solution on the Avis website, from which we rented a car. At avis.gr, we found what we were looking for. A car both powerful and versatile enough to cope with the journey of about 200 km, but which, however, almost half of the way crosses a relatively difficult road network. We really like that Avis offers a wide variety of rental vehicles, including cars with low fuel consumption, as well as hybrid and other models. This helps us pick the right choice when fuel costs are high.
A delightful coastal drive
After we picked up our car at the scheduled time and at the predetermined spot, we hit the road that starts from Argos and ends in Leonidio. The road is old and narrow, so driving at a high speed is not advisable. Thanks to the excellent car we rented, our journey was very comfortable, offering us wonderful views along the way. For about 70 kilometres, after making constant turns, we reached the coastal road and from such a height, the beautiful lacy beaches of Argolida and Arcadia came into view.
Upon arriving to Leonidio we were greeted by a sign that reads “Kaour ekanate ton Agelidi”, welcoming us to Leonidio in Tsakonian dialect. Another sign read “Groussa namou eini ta tsakonika. Rotiete na nioum alioi” – “My language is Tsakonian. Ask and be told.” There are very few who speak this regional Greek dialect today, but like the area’s local product, the Tsakonian eggplant, it is probably one of two things that are best known about Leonidio.
The village is full of preserved mansions and towers. On the road leading to the sea is a plain where, apart from the famous above-mentioned eggplant, other vegetables and citrus trees are cultivated.
The road reached Leonidio quite late, and until then communication with the outside world was done by sea.
But what is definitely most impressive about this area’s natural landscape is Kokkinovrachos, a steep rock that’s 250 metres high. A climbing field has been created along the rock to host a sport that is gaining ground and bringing alternative tourism to the city.
The town has its own special atmosphere, it does not have the air of a seaside resort, but neither does it have the ambience of an alpine place. Indeed, it is unlike any other area in the Peloponnese, perhaps owing to the fact that until the middle of the 20th century Leonidio was isolated from the rest of Greece, and travel here was exclusively by sea, to the port of Plaka, 4 km away.
If you find yourself in Leonidio, you should definitely visit the impeccably restored Tower of Trikaliotis. It hosts an exhibition on local architecture, which clearly shows that the mansions in the area were not just houses for the wealthy but actual fortifications with towers, rifle turrets and construction tricks such as asymmetrical stairs designed to block unsuspecting intruders. Another noteworthy place is the neoclassical building that was once a school.
From the sea to the mountain in half an hour
In the coastal part, apart from Plaka, there is also the charming beach of Poulithra, where a small carnival is organized on Carnival Sunday. What makes the excursion to this side of the Peloponnese particularly interesting is that “combining mountain and sea” is not just a figure of speech here. Starting from Leonidio, we start climbing the slopes of Parnonas. At around 15 km on our route we stop at the Holy Monastery of Eloni. The monastery, hundreds of years old, looks as though it miraculously ascended to reach where it now stands.
Next stop is the village of Kosmas. At an altitude of 1,150 metres on this relatively sunny day, the temperature here is considerably cooler than in Leonidio. Stone-built Kosmas is one of the most beautiful mountain villages in the Peloponnese and definitely a place worth adding to your travel plan, especially if you also enjoy scenic car rides.
The return to Athens on Clean Monday, after a gratifying traditional Lenten meal in Plaka, finds us happy and impatient to return to Leonidio in the summer. But if you haven’t yet finalized your Carnival weekend plans, there’s still time to do so by visiting a destination that is charming in different ways during every season of the year. And thanks to Avis, you can rent the perfect car for a trip that includes many rewarding stops.
Thanks to Avis and the multitude of offers and discounts that are constantly updated on its website, we always rent the perfect vehicle (and for the right price), that suits our needs down to the ground, for every different trip we take.
