SKAMNAKI

Local compartment at Gythion Municipality. It belongs to the alpine zone and covers an area of 13.000.000m2 from which the 1.300.000m2 are cultivated, whereas the rest is mainly pastoral land. The population has had many ups and downs. In 1940 it was 394, in 1951 306, in 1961 219, in 1971 144, in 1981 110, 1991 101 and in 2001 78.

The village is 5 km away from the junction Areopoli-Gythion. On both sides of the road, there are olive trees, fir trees, chestnut trees, and bushes. Slopes, and hills, all green! Wild cats, foxes, ferrets, small birds, turtle doves, chickadees, black birds, hawks and other kinds of animals find refuge to the woodland. Eerie scenery that gives to the sunset a supernatural beauty!

Walking around, one sees the main characteristics of the village, such as the narrowness, lack of places of common use, few and small yards and narrow lanes.

Picturesque churches are seen in many places. Without thinking about their value and age, the visitor assumes they were built yesterday. That well do they fit in the unaltered environment. Amongst these masterpieces, we see the parish church Panagia dated around 1900. In the churchyard, there is a monument devoted to those that fought and died for the sake of their country in different periods of time. Sotiras, which is an old church with recent interventions, still has on the temple traces of frescos. At the end of the village, there are Agios Dimitrios and Loukakos tower with good quality stone building technique; this is the guardian of the area.

The villagers at Skamnaki occupy themselves with agriculture and cattle breeding. Today this is limited. It is worth mentioning the participation of some farmers to organic cultivation programs.

Mani is mostly an alpine region since Taygetus forms its spine. The variety of the landscape, the unique scenery due to the rich flora and fauna create a new dimension and become the ideal destination for those who want to devote their free time to places that will offer them the most beautiful memories.

Ant Roumaneas