☰Old Kardamili

The upper village, a short walk uphill from the waterfront, is a different world from the tavernas and tourist shops below. A cluster of Maniot tower houses — thick-walled, built for defence, often windowless on the lower floors — sits around a small square with a late Byzantine church. The Venetian-era tower at the top of the hill is the most prominent landmark and worth climbing to for the view over the coast. The whole quarter is quiet and largely unchanged; most of the buildings are still lived in.