I + 17 : Was Miguel de Cervantes in Methoni?

Methoni at Quarter to Eight - the Town's 17th Century Bastions in the Middle of the Photo

The South of the Peloponnese is a fabulous place for boating. If you want to go for a sporty sail, leave the protection of your bay and enjoy the westerlies. If you prefer a swim or a land excursion, stay. We did both today. Leaving Koroni at 5 am, we arrived before Methoni at 07.45 h. The mighty walls of the old Venetian town were bathed in morning light.

The MYRA at 5.15 am on the Way from Koroni to Methoni

It is our second visit to Methoni. We were here already in 2017, on our way to Monemvassia. The town's fortifications look stunning and are well preserved but the inside is depressing. Only a few buildings survived like the Church of St Sophia and the ruins of a Turkish bath. During the War of Independence (1822 - 1830), Methoni was controlled by Ottoman troops. Despite heavy fighting, the Greek rebels could not disloge them. It thus became the base of Ibrahim Pasha's Egyptian Army (1825 - 1830), which was brought over by the Turkish Sultan to suppress the Greek rebellion. When Greece became independent in 1830, the locals did not want to return to the old town. They built a new town just outside the walls.

Aerial View of Methoni (taken from the Turist Office Information Sign) - clearly visible are the Lauredano Bastions (17th Century), St Sophia Church and the Turkish Baths with the domes.

Methoni was Venice's eye in the East and a vital link in its chain of trading posts. The Sultans did not like these Venetian ports on "their" territory and eliminated one after the other. They did not oppose Venetians trading - someone had to ship the goods to the European consumers. But they wanted to tax the trade at every stop. Not surprisingly Sultan Bayezid II arrived in 1500 AD in person (plus his big army) and sacked Methoni. The medieval walls were no match for Ottoman canons and fell like the walls of Constantinople 53 years earlier.

The Lauredan Bastions were built in 1700 to upgrade

the Defensive Walls - they could resist Canon Fire

Methoni today is a sleepy provincial town. It has a small, charming beach. Greek people come here for a family holiday. There are a few restaurants, evenings are quiet, no big hotels, just one supermarket but Athanasiou, a fabulous bakery who makes lava chocalate cakes. We got our white wine from him and - of course - his lava cake.

Modern Methoni's "busy" Main Street

Someone recently tried to put Methoni on the map by claiming that Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, was held prisoner here after the Battle of Lepanto. In 1571, the Holy League sunk the Ottoman Fleet near Patras, albeit at a terrible costs. Cervantes, a junior officer, was wounded severely in the chest and lost the use of his left arm. He was taken to the Civic Hospital in Messina in Sicily. He never set foot to Methoni. Once recovered, Cervantes continued serving the Spanish Crown. He was deployed to Corfu, Navarino and Tunis. On his return in 1575, just off the coast of Barcelona, his ship was captured by Muslim pirates who held him prisoner for 5 years. In 1580, he was liberated in a big prisoner of war exchange between Spain and the Ottoman. He went on to write Don Quixote in 1605 - 1615.

Miguel de Cervantes (1547 - 1616)