Voidokilia Beach

Voidokilia is a sandbar bent into a near-perfect ring, with open sea on one side and the Gialova lagoon behind it. The shape is best understood from the ridge above, where the ruins of a medieval castle sit on the headland and a cave opens in the cliff below it. The lagoon is a protected wetland and a serious stopover on the migration route, with flamingos wintering on the shallows and herons working the reed edges. Down at the sand there is nothing at all: no bar, no sunbeds, no shade, just dunes held together by marram grass and water that stays shallow a long way out. The walk up to the castle takes about forty minutes on loose rock.

History

The beach is held to be Homer's "sandy Pylos", where King Nestor welcomed Telemachus, and in myth Hermes hid the cattle he stole from Apollo in Nestor's Cave above it. At the north-eastern end, the Mycenaean tholos tomb attributed to Nestor's son Thrasymedes stands on a site with Neolithic finds from as early as 4000 BC; Spyridon Marinatos excavated it in the 1950s and G. S. Korres in the 1970s, finding about seven burials, and on the cape of Koryphasion to the south, where classical Pylos stood, Nicholas de Saint'Omer built a castle in the 13th century from the ancient stones (Wikipedia, Voidokilia beach).

What's there

• The ring of sand - the full curve visible only from the ridge or the castle above.
• Gialova lagoon - a protected wetland behind the dunes with wintering flamingos and waders.
• Palaiokastro - the ruined castle on the headland, reached by a steep unmarked scramble.
• The dune system - marram grass and low scrub, fenced in places to stop it being cut apart.

When to go

May, June and September give warm water without August crowds and parking chaos. Bird activity on the lagoon peaks in spring and winter rather than midsummer. Early morning is best for the light on the curve and for the climb to the castle before the heat. Sunset draws a crowd to the ridge in season.

Practical notes

There are no facilities of any kind, which includes shade, water and toilets, so bring everything. Parking is a dirt strip that fills by mid-morning in summer. People still cut across the dunes despite the signs, and the damage is visible. The castle climb is on loose stone with no railings, and mosquitoes come off the lagoon at dusk.

Nearby

Pylos and its harbour fortress, the Gialova lagoon hides and Methoni on the coast south.

Key facts