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Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Eastern Mani region, Laconia / South Peloponnese

By Desolation Road

September 2^nd, 2020

The ferocity of the rocks under the blazing sun in the bare naked bay of Gerolimenas, in the underbelly of the intimidating rocky Cavo Grosso cape, was not the only reason that kept the inhabitants of the Mani area from living there until the end of the 19th century. There was another reason, much more threatening: the pirates.

During the Ottoman rule in Greece, up until the 1870s, the narrow and sheltered port of Gerolimenas, in the central of the three southern capes of the Peloponnese and the Balkan Peninsula, was the refuge and stronghold of several Greek pirates. They were seeking beyond the law -and most of the time beyond the code of ethics and even humanity- the means of survival in a time of extreme poverty and social inequality, in a barren and isolated land.

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Several Greek seamen and powerful families showed a high-risk tendency to piracy in the early 19th century, terrorizing the crews of the merchant ships. In this area, the Captains who passed by the open seas off the southern Peloponnese shores, each time remembered "to stay forty miles away from Cape Tainaro and another forty from Cape Grosso".

"The dominant narratives are full of fascinating stories of charming pirates, hidden treasures and love stories, reminiscent of well-known literary works or movies. Pirates such as Lymberakis, the one-eyed Sassaris, Mavromichalis, Stekoulis or Mourtzinos are the stars of these stories. But the reality was completely different ", writes the author Spyros Alexiou.

As he explains, although the countless islands of the Aegean Sea provided the ideal setting for piracy since antiquity, during the Ottoman era piracy boomed after the signing of the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718 between the Ottomans and the Venetians, while the flourishing of trade due to the French Revolution and the ongoing wars was also a crucial factor. The Treaty turned the Mani Sea into a border between the two Empires, intensifying the mobility of ships in the region. In fact, he mentions that the coastal village Oitylo became an organized base for pirates and slave trade, thus called "Little Algiers".

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

"Their actions had nothing heroic or cinematic," Alexiou continues. Greek and Maltese pirates, in good cooperation, collected free passage taxes. To sink a boat, they usually moved the lighthouses or attached lit torches at night to the goats' horns. When ships crashed on the rocks of Mani, they killed the sailors, looted their possessions and took hostages. The latter ones were either sold in slave markets, exploited as rowers for their ships, or were held hostages for ransom if they were members of healthy families.

And then, often large families of pirates -such as the ones from Mavromichalis and Mantouvalos clans- were involved in bloody conflicts over the distribution of booty. After 1803 the Ottomans, unable to control piracy, appointed the leader of the most powerful pirate family to distribute the booty, putting aside of course the necessary share to the Ottomans themselves.

One of the notorious pirates of Mani at the end of Ottoman rule was the infamous Tsatsarounos, whose name is said to have originated from the Italian word chiacchierone, which means talkative and shouting. Tsatsarounos is said to have been carrying the booty from the boats he was robing to his small village Pepo, which is nestled far away, in the depths of a valley in the Taygetos mountain range. The slopes and towers of Pepo offered the pirate an ideal bastion.

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Gerolimenas, a name said to have originated from the Greek words meaning Holy Port (Ieros Limenas), came to life around 1870, when piracy was weakening. This was the time the first shop opened there. The construction of the first houses followed, as well as the erection of three towers by the strongest clans of Mani. Gerolimenas developed further during the 20th century, with the creation of a commercial port (especially useful for ships bound for Africa) and shops that sell fish, fishery products and ice.

Visiting Gerolimenas

Today, the village of Gerolimenas has about 50 inhabitants and many more visitors, travelling to the lunar landscape of Mani and then reaching this bay to find hotels, taverns and cafes all year round. The road is paved, but narrow. Gerolimenas is 50 km away from the city of Gythio and almost 100 km from Sparta. Once a ferry line was connecting Gerolimenas with the port of Piraeus, but this stopped in the 1970s.

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Gerolimenas: The pirates’ bay

Footnotes

Text & photography Copyright: Desolation Road / Titos Aronis

FootNotes

Text & photography Copyright: Desolation Road / Titos Aronis

© 2026 Desolation Road

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