![Palaiokastro](../images/icons/set_icons/monuments.png)
Palaiokastro
(Distance from Villa Voidokoilia
- 1.5 km)
Pylos hosts two castles, Niokastro and Palaiokastro, true Navarino . Palaiokastro or Palaionavarino, built by the Franks around 1278, has a rectangular shape with many square and round towers. Next to the castle is the Nestor's cave mentioned by Pausanias, where, according to tradition, Hermes hid the cows that he had stolen from Apollo while, according to myth, Nileas and his son Nestor used the cave for a stall .
Niokastro was built in 1573 by the Ottomans at the entrance of Navarino's natural bay and consists of the upper and lower castles. Characteristic of the upper castle is the acropolis of hexagonal shape. The lower castle, larger in size, includes two square bastions (the western and the northern). Inside the castle there is a Turkish aqueduct and the ruins of the Gothic church of the Transfiguration of the Savior. The church was built by the Franks, then turned into a mosque and today it functions as an orthodox temple. It is worth mentioning that the "Underwater Archaeological Research Center" operates within the castle. .
![Ancient Messene](../images/icons/set_icons/monuments.png)
Ancient Messene
(Distance from Villa Voidokoilia
- 50 km)
Messene is one of the great in size, preserved and preserved cities of antiquity, which still has much to offer. It has not only sanctuaries and public buildings, but also imposing fortifications and residences and funerary monuments. It has, among other things, the rare privilege of not being destroyed or covered by younger settlements and being in a predominantly Mediterranean unspoiled natural environment. This natural environment combines the mountainous majesty of Delphi and the low riverside serenity of Olympia, with the dominating bare calcareous mass of Ithomi, where the acropolis, and the low fertile valley around the ancient city.
![Palace of King Nestor](../images/icons/set_icons/monuments.png)
Palace of King Nestor
(Distance from Villa Voidokoilia
- 7 km)
The palace of Nestor, in "Upper Iglianos", is one of the most important monuments of Mycenaean Greece. The palaces were built in the 13th century. B.C. from the wise King Nestor of the Homeric Years - who took part in the Trojan War, which turned Pylos into the second most important city of the Mycenaean world after Mycenae. The surrounding landscape was calm and the palace area never stood up, unlike the other Mycenaean citadels. The palaces were almost completely destroyed in the early 12th century by a fire and never rebuilt. In 1939, K. Kountouriotis identified the position of the prehistoric palace, whose disclosure was continued and completed by American Carl Bleggen.
![Museum of Chora (Ancient Pylos)](../images/icons/set_icons/monuments.png)
Museum of Chora (Ancient Pylos)
(Distance from Villa Voidokoilia
- 9 km)
The Museum was created to house the most important findings. The collection of the Archaeological Museum of Chora far exceeds its local significance, due to the volume and character of its findings. The archaeological collection of the Museum consists of vases and other objects, most of which date back to the Late Mycenaean times (about 1550-1100 BC). It is undoubtedly one of the richest and most instructive collections of Mycenaean finds in Greece.