Pylos

Built in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese, in the beautiful environment of the Messinian land and overlooking the Ionian Sea, Pylos, this picturesque town of the 2,500 residents, enchants with its beauty both locals and visitors. Pylos is known for the famous Naval Battle of Navarino (1827) in which the victory of the allied forces was the beginning of the liberation of Greece from the Turkish rule.

Pylos is a new town, which was built in 1828 after the Naval Battle of Navarino by French engineers of General Maison and was inhabited by residents of Asia Minor, the Ionian Islands and Moraitika. It borrowed its name from the neighboring homeric Pylos of the famous Nestor. The town is amphitheatrically built according to a peculiar architectural design. There dominates the beautiful square with the imposing monument of the three Admirals with two cannons from the Naval Battle of Navarino, a Venetian and a Turk one. The houses of Pylos are white, made of stone, with red roofs and backyards.

The harbor of Pylos is one of the largest and safest harbors in the world, with a length of 4800 m and a width of 3600 m. The sea reaches 50 meters depth. The island of Sfaktiria in front of the bay of Navarino, serves as a natural breakwater. In the south of the island is located the islet of Pylos or Tsichli-baba or Fanari. There, in 1890 the French Republic constructed ​​a monument for the French dead of the Naval Battle of Navarino. In the center of the bay of Navarino lies the islet of Chelonisi or Chelonaki that was named so due to its shape that resembles to a turtle. Over Chelonisi was erected a monument for the English dead men of the Naval Battle of Navarino.