Voidokilia beach near Pylos wants no recommendations: it is one of the most beautiful beaches in the Mediterranean. Everyone comes here to enjoy excellent swimming and sunbathing.

Not me. In that trip I was looking for a tomb!

Perversion? No. Pausanias!

I explain. Above Voidokilia beach Pausanias – the famous ancient Greek historian and traveller –  had seen Thrasymedes’  grave.  Thrasymedes was the son of the – famous from the Homeric poems – ancient king of Pylos, Nestor. In the late 19th century the English historian G.B. Grundy found here a tomb which was thoroughly investigated  in 1950 by the famous Greek archaeologist Spyros Marinatos. He then considered this tomb to be the tomb of Thrasymedes. The monument was dated in the period 1680- 1060 BC, at the Mycenaean era.

I followed a path through the low trees and shrubs. The soil was sandy and my feet were sinking.

 

 

 

Dense vegetation stretched on the hill and the cool breeze, blowing from the Ionian sea, was very enjoyable. The inconspicuous path led me to a wretched fence and a locked door.

Fortunately a break on the fence was leaving a passage and I was able to go inside. The ancient ruins were surrounded by weeds. At the edge of the hill the cyclic structure of the domed tomb appeared.

Unfortunately there was no indication of something royal here. Nothing testified the wealth that was found here, gold platings, Mycenaean pottery, necklaces of amethyst, stone arrows. Even a skeleton of an ox was discovered here, possibly sacrificed in honor of the deceased.

 

 

 

I could hear the voices of the swimmers from the beach. I walked over to the edge of the tomb and saw the panorama of Voidokilia beach, a white sandy bow with emerald waters.

I sat on a little hill, searching the rubble trying to figure out something more. Nothing … Everything testified age-old: Traces of Neolithic habitation and cult traces of the Hellenistic period (4th-3rd century BC.) were also found here. It seemed that a hero was worshiped here till that time. Maybe some distant deified ancestor…

Was he Thrasymedes?

Nobody knows. And no one will ever know possibly…

I went to the beach with the rest of the tourists. Just to swim without the above concerns. Like all the other people…
 
 
 
Where am I?
Voidokilia beach is located near the village of Yalova and close to the little town of Pylos. The quickest way to get here is by road via Kalamata (where you will arrive by car or by plane).