Nikos Kazantzakis Bust

A bronze bust of Nikos Kazantzakis stands on the slope above Stoupa Beach, commemorating the writer's brief stay in the village during a failed mining venture in 1917–18. The setting — beach, sea, and the bare Mani hills beyond — is the same one Kazantzakis would later draw on for "Zorba the Greek".

It is a small monument, easily missed, but a pleasant pause on a walk between the beaches. A short plaque in Greek and English explains the connection.

things to do sight
A story
Kazantzakis came to Stoupa briefly in 1917–18 to manage a lignite mine with the writer Yorgos Zorbas, the inspiration for his novel "Zorba the Greek". The mining venture failed within the year, but Zorbas and the wild Mani landscape gave him both the title character and several scenes for the book he would publish three decades later.