An Authentic Greece project · very much a work in progress

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🧿 Some projects start at a desk. Others simply grow with your life. ​

​In 1996, I organised my first holidays to Greece. Zakynthos and Kefalonia were there right from the beginning – and that very first year also brought me to Methoni.

Of course, I had no idea then that thirty years later I would still be organising travel to Greece. And certainly not that this particular corner of the Peloponnese would become so important to me. But it did.

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I kept coming back. For work, because I was travelling, out of curiosity and, eventually, simply because I love being here. Pylos and the Bay of Navarino. Gialova, Methoni, Finikounda and Koroni. The sea, the olive groves and vineyards. Wine and food. The Palace of Nestor, the Venetians, the Battle of Navarino and a history that is quite literally all around you.

And at the same time, I watched the region change.

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Costa Navarino arrived. Golf became important. International hotels and new restaurants opened. Kalamata gained more international connections and visitors from all over the world began discovering this part of Greece.

Something was happening.

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And somewhere between those thirty years of Greece, my work in tourism and my own connection with this area, the idea for NavarinoLifeStyle slowly began to take shape.

Not because the world needed another travel guide. But because there is a story here I want to tell.

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🧿 Why now? Because something is happening here.

Costa Navarino has put this part of Messinia on the international map. Golf, gastronomy, wellness, sport and luxury hospitality are now attracting visitors from all over the world.

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Accessibility is changing too. Kalamata International Airport is being expanded and modernised, and there are plans for a new marina in Pylos.

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Having known this region for so long, I follow these developments with enormous interest. Not as a property developer. And certainly not as an official tourist board. I look at them through the eyes of someone who has been organising travel for thirty years.

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What will better accessibility mean for the region? What will the continued development of Costa Navarino bring? What opportunities might it create for Pylos, Gialova, Methoni, Finikounda and the villages around them?

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And perhaps most importantly: could all these developments help more people discover this beautiful region outside July and August?

Because then we’re not simply talking about growth. We’re talking about opportunities for the whole region.

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🧿 Navarino, 365 days a year

Because why only July and August?

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One of the developments I believe in most is a longer season. Because Messinia has so much to offer outside the summer months.

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Golf. Wine & Food. Walking and cycling. Culture and archaeology. Nature. Olives and wine.

In spring, Messinia is green and something seems to be flowering everywhere. The temperatures are perfect for being outdoors, walking, cycling or simply exploring.

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In autumn, everything changes again. First come the grapes and the wine. Then the olive harvest begins, and suddenly there are tractors and crates everywhere, heading towards the olive presses.

And outside summer, you perhaps see even more of everyday Greek life.

A coffee in the square. A long lunch. A winemaker who suddenly starts telling you far more than you ever expected to hear. Turning down a little road simply because you want to know where it goes.

These days, we like to call that slow tourism. To me, it’s simply a way of travelling that suits Messinia perfectly.

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Not trying to tick everything off a list. Taking the time to actually get to know a place.

Navarino, 365 days a year. I believe in it.

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🧿 Costa Navarino – and everything around it

It’s the contrast that makes this region so interesting.

On one side, there’s Costa Navarino. International luxury, beautiful resorts, golf courses, gastronomy and visitors from all over the world.

And just a few kilometres away, you’re sitting in the square in Pylos, where everyday Greek life simply carries on. I love that contrast.

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Drive around the bay to Gialova. Continue to Methoni, where the enormous Venetian fortress seems to run straight into the sea. On to Finikounda, with its beaches and little harbour. Or further still to Koroni, where the Venetians left their mark once again.

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Along the way, there are small villages, olive groves, vineyards, beaches and local producers.

And thankfully, you don’t have to choose between those two worlds.

International and Greek. Luxury and small-scale. Something completely new alongside thousands of years of history.

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You can play golf at Costa Navarino in the morning and have dinner in a little village that evening. Stay somewhere luxurious and still go out and discover local wine and olive oil. Come for the sea and suddenly find yourself standing in the middle of three thousand years of history.

Costa Navarino brought the world to this part of Messinia. But thankfully, the Greece around it is still very much here.

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And that is exactly what I want to show you.

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🧿 And then there’s Messinia

Navarino, of course, doesn’t exist in isolation. There’s a much bigger world around it.

Kalamata, Ancient Messene, the Palace of Nestor, the west coast, the mountains and the countryside. Wine regions, endless olive groves, archaeological sites and villages where life still moves at a very different pace.

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That’s why NavarinoLifeStyle will regularly venture beyond the immediate surroundings of the bay too.

Navarino is the heart. Messinia is the world around it.

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🧿 Not a travel guide. My view of this region.

After thirty years in tourism, perhaps I look at a destination a little differently.

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I see a new hotel and wonder who will come and stay there. I hear about a new marina and immediately think about what it could mean for Pylos. I see new international flights arriving in Kalamata and start thinking about new markets and a longer season.

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But thankfully, I can still get just as excited about a small winemaker, a village I’ve never visited before, a fantastic restaurant or a story about the Venetians that sends me off to find out more.

And when somebody says to me: “Karlien, you really should go and have a look at this.” I usually do.

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Those are exactly the two sides I want to bring together in NavarinoLifeStyle: my professional experience in tourism and my curiosity about this region.

Not an endless list of every restaurant, hotel or beach. But places that catch my attention. People with a story. New developments that could mean something for the region. Wine & Food, golf, history, culture, nature and everyday life around Navarino.

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And every now and then, simply something that makes me think: I have to share this.

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🧿 NavarinoLifeStyle tells the story. Authentic Greece lets you experience it.

Behind NavarinoLifeStyle is Authentic Greece. And that’s no secret. Organising travel has been my profession for thirty years, after all.

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NavarinoLifeStyle is where I want to share my enthusiasm, knowledge, discoveries and personal view of Navarino and Messinia.

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And perhaps, somewhere along the way, you’ll find yourself thinking: I want to go there.

That’s where Authentic Greece comes in.

For an individual holiday or a group. For Wine & Food. Golf combined with gastronomy and culture. History and archaeology. Or a journey that combines Costa Navarino with the smaller-scale Greece around it.

And preferably in spring, autumn or even winter too.

NavarinoLifeStyle inspires. Authentic Greece makes it happen.

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🧿 To be continued…

NavarinoLifeStyle is very much a work in progress. Which actually feels rather appropriate, because this region is too.

A lot is changing. And thankfully, an awful lot is staying exactly the same.

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The Bay of Navarino. The olive groves. The fortress of Methoni. The square in Pylos. The little villages. The sea. The new alongside the old. That’s what fascinates me.

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After thirty years of Greece, I’m still curious. Still looking, discovering, meeting people and collecting stories.

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Welcome to NavarinoLifeStyle.

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Karlien A Liewes
30 years of Greece · Authentic Greece