Where the revolution was declared

On 23 March 1821, in the small Byzantine church of the Holy Apostles in the old town, the fighters of the Mani and Messenia declared the Greek revolution. Kalamata was the first Greek city taken from the Ottomans, and the square in front of the church is still the centre of the old town.

The castle

The Castle of Kalamata occupies the hill above it, built in the early thirteenth century on the site of the ancient acropolis. It passed through Frankish, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman hands, and enough of the walls and the keep survive to make the climb worthwhile. The summer festival uses it as a venue.

A city rebuilt

An earthquake in September 1986 brought down a fifth of Kalamata's buildings, including the church of the Holy Apostles. The reconstruction that followed was deliberate: the city was replanned, and the neoclassical houses and Byzantine monuments were restored rather than cleared. That is why a modern city centre here has its older fabric still inside it.

Museums

The Archaeological Museum of Messenia holds material from across the regional unit, from the Mycenaean period onwards. The Military Museum covers the twentieth century, and the Railway Park on the seafront is an open-air collection of old locomotives laid out as a public garden.

Kalamata's beach runs for about two and a half kilometres along the front of the city. It is fine pebble mixed with sand, organised along its whole length, and it is part of the city's daily life as much as a beach — with cafés and tavernas on the promenade behind it.

Almyros, ten minutes west, is quieter. Santova, twenty minutes on, is shallow and better with small children.

Further round the gulf the coast improves: Kitries, Kardamyli and the coves of the Mani are half an hour to an hour south, with clearer water and far fewer people.

Kalamata Marina is one of the larger marinas in the Peloponnese and a base for sailing in the Messinian Gulf, with the Mani coast and the western Messenian beaches within a day's sail.

Behind the city, the Taygetos offers serious walking, and the gorge of Rindomo cuts down towards the plain. Paragliding operates from the slopes above the city.

In July the Kalamata International Dance Festival brings contemporary dance companies to the city, in the castle and in the old railway buildings.

The Kalamata olive is a protected designation of origin and the best-known Greek olive in the world — large, dark and almond-shaped, cured rather than brined. Messinian olive oil carries its own protected designation.

Both come from the plain you drive through to get here, and both are sold in the central market, which is the place to buy them along with figs, honey and herbs.

On the table, the Messenian dishes are gouronopoulo, spit-roasted suckling pig, and lalangia, strips of fried dough. Sfela, a hard sharp sheep's cheese kept in brine, is the local cheese and has its own protected designation. Diples, thin fried pastry in honey, are the sweet made for celebrations.