Explore Stemnitsa, one of the 15 most beautiful villages in Greece, according to Irish traveler. Stemnitsa belongs to Gortynia ‘s Municipality and is the seat of the Municipal Unit of Trikolonon.
Stemnitsa, easy to approach, offers an ideal destination either for sort escapes or for a longer staying. A rich net of stone alleys runs through the village and takes you to the most hidden parts of it. Admire the architecture with the traditional houses, the churches – Byzantine and post-Byzantine ones – and the stone fountains.
Visit:
St. George – church in the village’s square with part of illustrations painted from Kontoglou, Zoodoho Pigi – the monastery where the 1st conclave of Peloponnese took place, Panagia the Mpafero and the Iroo, where you can admire sunset, Agious Anargirous or Three Hierarchs – small chapel built in 1715, neχt to Stemnitsa’s Silver and Goldsmith School. At the school, you can meet the students and admire their crafts. Excel not only in Greece but also at European level as in participations in competitions ‘sweep out’ awards. The last few years, every spring, silversmiths are gathering together in order to save and to spread their techniques (source: Stemnitsa’s Silver and Goldsmith School). In Stemnitsa’s Folk Museum, housed in two renovated buildings, learn about the old crafts through the representation of traditional workshops, see the interior of an old stemnitsian house, the collections of Byzantine icons, metalwork, pottery, woodwork, embroidery, costumes, ecclesiastical objects and shadow theater figures crafted by the last Stemnitsian puppeteer Lambros Karadimas. (source: Stemnitsa’s Folk Museum)
Get Involved…
…at village’s everyday life conversing with locals in cafes and taverns. Experience the seasons, drinking “rakomelo” in front of the fireplace at wintertime, picking asparagus at the springtime, oregano at summertime, mushrooms in autumn time…
Collect and learn more for the local cuisine “cooking with Nena”
Overcoming yourselves riding horses or rafting at Lousios River or skiing at Mainalon resort.
With starting point Mpelleiko b&b, a network of paths, well-preserved, and well marked at the most part, brings you to chapels with stunning views, at the springs that supply water the village, in the alpine meadows of Mainalon Mountain even to Lucios Gorge with its Monasteries – like the unique one Saint John the Prodromos – and Ancient Gortys or other villages at mountain Mainalo. You can walk short time or longer, doing circular routes or just crossing, choosing easy or not so easy routes, you can keep yourselves busy for days.
Based in Mpelleiko, you can visit Water Power Museum in Dimitsana, Karytaina with its castle and the three-arched bridge over the Alpheus River, the woodcarver Christos Simopoulos in Elati, Kalogris’s traditional winery and the cave at Kapsia. You can still make daily visits to archaeological sites such as the Temple of Zeus at Lykaion Mountain, the Temple of Apollo at Bassai, Ancient Olympia, Ancient Messene even Mycenae, returning in the afternoon in the quiet and idyllic atmosphere of the mountain.