Pylians are renowned for their hospitality (‘filoxenia’ in Greek). Homer tells the story thus: searching for his father Odysseus, Telemachus accompanied by the Goddess Athina in mortal guise, came ashore at night in Voidokilia which was also the port of ancient Pylos, to ask King Nestor of his father Ulysses whereabouts. The Wise King was holding a feast with his sons on the sand, he gave the travelers the best cuts of meat and his best wine. Only after they were fed and rested, did he ask them who they were and what was the purpose of their visit. This is the first written account of hospitality in the Western world and it’s in Homer’s Odyssey, the foundation of Western storytelling.

The peculiar name of this enchanting location, Voidokilia (lit. ‘Cow-belly’), can be traced to an ancient myth about Hermes, who stole the oxen of his brother, Apollo, and hid them in a cave above the beach. Feeling remorse, Hermes gave Apollo a lyre made from the shell of a sea turtle, which to this day lays its eggs in the bay.

This drinking cup or ‘Kotyle’ was found in a grave in the ancient Greek colony of Pithekoussai on the island of Ischia, off the western coast of Italy. Now widely known as Nestor’s Cup, the remarkable clay vessel has been dated to the Geometric Period (c. 750-700 BC) and bears a three-line inscription that is one of the oldest known examples of writing in the Greek alphabet. The inscription has been transcribed as: “Nestor’s cup I am, good to drink from. Whoever drinks this cup empty straightaway, desire for beautiful-crowned Aphrodite will seize”

According to legend, the great hero Heracles brought the olive tree to Greece from the land of the Hyperboreans, planting the first one in the Peloponnese. In ancient Pylos, archaeologists discovered the earliest written forms of ‘olive’ and ‘olive-oil’ on clay tablets inscribed in Linear B script which date to 1300 BC, providing concrete evidence that Messinia was among the first regions to cultivate the sacred olive.

According to local legend, if a pregnant woman passes under the majestic natural archway of Fanari, she will give birth to a male child.

A particularly tragic event associated with Paleokastro took place in 1825, as the Greek War of Independence raged. The Egyptian forces under Ibrahim Pasha had invaded the Peloponnese the previous year after the Ottomans had asked for assistance in crushing the Greek revolt. As the Egyptians approached, many women from the area of Garantza, along with their children, jumped from the cliffs of Paleokastro, preferring death to being captured.

It is said that the tradition of souvlaki, or skewered meat, started in Pylos, based on the purpose-made ceramic vessel found in the kitchen of the Palace of Nestor, dating from around 1300 BC. It is believed that lamb, goat and beef chunks were skewered and spit roasted in this vessel over an open fire and then served to guests and strangers seeking sanctuary.