The Kamarinou Mansion
An authentic traditional
holiday house in Greece for rent
For those seeking for secret places, off the beaten track, combining the luxury of a dream holiday house with the authenticity of a 19th c. mansion within the tranquility of an old agricultural landscape in southern Greece, a traditional guest house in the village Agios Demetrius, is offered for rent.
Agios Demetrius, located in the crossroads of Eastern Laconia (the land of Mani), Southern Peloponnesus in Greece, only 25 min from Monemvasia, Mt Parnon and the southern sandy beaches, is ideal for eco holidays.
Rooms
The Main Building
The two storey stone built traditional house, easily accommodates between 2 to 10 people. It comprises of:
The first floor:
An apartment with a master bedroom (queen size twin bed), bathroom and the fully equipped kitchen (70 m2) and 
An additional double bedroom (queen size twin bed) with en suite bathroom. 
Verandas: the “liakos” traditional sunny veranda, and the stunning terrace under the starry sky.
The ground floor:
A wide vaulted space (70 m2) with bathroom, two twin beds and simple kitchen facilities, suitable accommodation for 4 persons and 
the vaulted “linos”, where the wine was produced from the grapes. - A pergola shadowed by a vine-arbour.
The Old Farm House
Next to the main building is an 18th c. old farm house, whose two rooms have been preserved, as they were (can be used for small group seminars or as a play room).
The Grounds
Spacious sitting areas have been created within 1500 m2 of almond tree fields, enclosed by traditional dry stone walling.
Photos and texts: Many thanks to V. Efthymiou,
M. Tsamopoulou, G. Hoffman, S. Watson, S. Marlier.
Lifestyle:
Authenticity, Values, quality
Traditional Cuisine
Dishes of authentic quality in good prices in the local tavernas.
Dinner romance in Monemvasia.
Something worth discovering in Zarakas is the local cuisine.
At the tavernas in the Zarakas villages you can taste home made local dishes made from age-old recipes: fresh made noodles, local cheese, wild vegetables salad and pies, goat soup, delicious souvlaki and sheep ribs, home made sausages with orange, and many more...
At the nearby fishing villages you can enjoy fresh fish, octopus, and lobster.
Home made products from the traditional bakeries will enrich your breakfast with delightful made Greek tastes. A distinguished area for both delicious food lovers and for vegetarians.
For a romantic dinner choose Monemvasia, the castle town on the sea rock.
An explicit restaurant guide with tips is available at the mansion.
Eco Holidays in Privacy
Healthy living.
For the guests of the mansion high quality olive oil for cooking, thyme honey for breakfast and local herbs for tea are offered. During the summer you can freely pick figs and almonds from the garden trees to accompany your evening wine.
For the body care of the guests homemade olive oil soap and, only when preferred, the rain water for hair washing from the mansion’s ecological cistern are made available. All beds have anatomical mattresses.
Trekking guides are also provided, as well as board games!
The privacy and openness of the mansion, the quality of its architectural structure combined with the tranquillity of the natural environment and the village life will help you regain your calmness, energy and even inspiration needed.
Ecological Architecture
An authentic traditional Greek mansion and farm house.
Traditional architectural structure based on natural materials, ideal for heat and sound insulation.
Ideal location: a fresh breeze blows even in the summer months, sunny orientation, and expansive view.
“Appreciating the house inspired in me love for archaeology and for the pure values of the Greek earth, my main concern was to preserve the historical architecture of the building and keep the surrounding grounds intact.
- The stone built walls and their traditional colours: ochra, blue and asbestos white.
- The two centuries old roof tiles and reed ceiling, a technique stemming from the Mycenaean period.
- The cistern for the collection of the rain water for the garden.
- The old cedar window blankets, the trap-door, the old doors, the wardrobes and the furniture.
- The black and white floor tiles, and the wooden cypress floor.
- The vaulted “linos”, where the must was produced from the wine grapes.
- The open air clay oven, where you can still cook.
- The dry stone built fences around the age-old almond trees.
- The old farm house, a typical 18th c. building, whose stone walls and architectural details have been preserved intact.”
Dr. Dimitra Kamarinou
History of the Family
“For over 60 years the mansion was locked with all the belongings of its last residents inside, except for a box full of “liras” (golden coins), which, as an elder in neighbor told me, was found by her son, at the time a young boy, and some precious jewelry belonging to my grand mother, which disappeared during the last years of her life.
Every time I opened the heavy wooden door as a child, I felt the magic of the discovery: glasses and cups from the beginning of the 20th c., multi-colored woven carpets, porcelain platters, sophisticated oil lamps, the fully carved buffet, the coffee hand mills, the liqueur set, and heavy cutlery. Above all the rich collection of old leather-bound books: issues of the Greek Archaeological Newspaper from the beginning of 1900, books on archaeology, pedagogy, psychology of the same era, the first edition of the Greek Revolution, Leipzig old editions of the classical ancient Greek and Latin authors, traveling guides to Paris, Berlin, Prague dated back to 1910-1920, from the journeys of Sotiris Kamarinos in Europe.
A philology teacher, director of a high school and multilingual scholar of archaeology and philology, Sotiris Kamarinos, after his brother’s unexpected death, undertook the care of his two sons: of the unlucky Christos, my father, who lost his father the year he was born and took his name and the 8 year old Sotiris. In 1926, on the sunny veranda of the main building, where my grandmother Dimitra, daughter of a Member of the Parliament and doctor, continued to stay with her sons, an apartment for uncle Sotiris was added.
Next to the two storey house, the old building, where the descendant papa-Kamarinos, a priest, used to live, was transformed into a stable. The vaulted ground floor became for some years a grocer’s store, before my father housed there a wine testing laboratory. Next to it the “linos”, another vaulted room, where they pressed the grapes for the wine.
The rain water was collected in a huge cistern and was mainly used for cooking and drinking, as the trees of the surrounding fields are of species that do not need watering.
In that dry, rocky and thus poor area, the privileged ones used to assist and support those who were in need. So my grand mother was called “gria kali: good old lady”, uncle Sotiris during the Second World War frequently saved the village from the flames, by using his language skills to persuade the soldiers that the residents were peaceful people, and my father’s brother, a jurist and admiral of the Greek Navy, even when he was in Egypt serving as a consul, he was an anonymous donor. Last but not least my father, when working at the Directorate of Agriculture, tried hard to fulfil his dream to solve the problem of irrigation and of the water supply in the area.”
Dr. Dimitra Kamarinou
Eco Holidays in Laconia
An Almost Intangible Area
It’s the power of the stone that characterizes the region of Laconia, in Peloponnesus, Greece. The stone, which raises the towers of Mani and the coloured walls of Zarakas, which forms the dry stone walls around the almond and fig fields, which grows in the olive tree cultures among irises and anemones, which draws the bays around the Tainaron and Maleas peninsulas.
The stone that imprints the history. Hosting fossils at the Neapoli bay, forming stalactites in the underground caves, building Byzantine castletowns like Mystras and Monemvasia, and submerged ancient settlements.
Agios Demetrius
Agios Demetrius is an authentic, lively village, located 43 km east of Sparta, in the old byzantine region of Zarakas. When as a child I approached the village the coloured stone built houses, resembled in my mind the fairytale colours of the sunset: ochra or cherry painted walls with light blue or green windows are still evident next to the central church, where the mansion is located.
The hospitable inhabitants cultivate olive trees, produce a widely beloved honey, or raise herds of goats and sheep, all high quality products. The village square with the bakery, the cafes and the souvlaki tavernas is the meeting point, where summer fiestas are held.
Things to Do/See:
A Plentiful of Authentic Places of Greece
In less than 30 min in Monemvasia, Mt Parnon and the beaches.
Agios Demetrius is located at the crossroads of Laconia, in the Peloponnesus, so that within a 30-45 minutes car distance you can reach:
The unique clear blue Myrtoon beaches (Reichia, Fokianos, Gerakas) and the Lakonian Bay ones (Elia, Karavostasi, Plytra, Archagelos). 
Archaeological sites (ancient Sparta, the Byzantine castle town at Geraki, the Menelaus and beautiful Helena Temple, the submerged ancient town at Plytra). - Many traditional old villages all over Zarakas (like Koupia, Kremasti, Geraki, Giotsali).
Historical towns (Monemvasia, Sparta, Molaoi, Gytheion). - Mountain destinations (Mt. Parnon, Kosmas village, Elona Monastery).
In about an hour in Mani, Mystras, Elafonisos, Mt Taygetos
Within an hour or two you can reach eastwards to the end of the Maleas peninsula (Neapolis, Elafonisos Island, Kastania’s Cave) and westwards the historical Gytheion, the tower houses of Mani, the Diros’ Cave, as well as Mt. Taygetos and the Byzantine Mystras.
Prices / Contact Us
Rates
Renting one whole floor / apartment:
For 2 persons 80 Euros (except August: 130 Euros) per night.
For 4 persons 150 Euros per night.
Renting the whole mansion as an entity:
4-10 persons 200 Euros per night.
Minimum stay 5 nights.
Special Offers
- For a 6-11 nights stay, 1 extra night is offered for free
- For a 12 nights stay, 2 extra nights are offered for free. You pay twelve, you stay 14 nights.
- For a 17 nights stay, 4 extra nights for free (you can stay up to 21 nights).
The special offers are valid for all months except from July and August.
For reservation requests please contact us via e-mail, or phone.
If you would like to rent the whole house for one or several months or for a year, please let us inform you about our special offers. Specific requirements (internet connection etc) could also be arranged.
Contact Us
Dimitra Kamarinou
house@kamarinou.com
tel.: +30 6978352293
fax.: +30 2743029003
How to Get to Us
From Athens
By car via Corinth, Tripoli, Sparta, deviation Geraki.
Concretely from E. Venizelos airport you take the Attiki odos to Korinth. There you choose the deviation to Tripoli and as soon as you are there the deviation to Sparta. Before entering the city and just in front of the bridge or Eurotas River you turn left to Geraki, Alepochori, Agios Dimitrios. Following a picturesque route initially by the river and then through old Byzantine villages and olive trees landscape you arrive at the square of Agios Dimitrios. You take the road to the church and next to it a newly painted ochra building with blue window frames is in front of you. Welcome!
By bus from Athens Central Bus Station (Kifissos KTEL), the bus to Monemvasia.
From Athens
By car via Corinth, Tripoli, Sparta, deviation Geraki.
From Kalamata
You take the road to Sparta and after the Eurotas bridge, take the deviation to Geraki.
From Crete
The boat to Gytheion and then the road to Molaoi, Ag. Demetrius.
Explicit details can be sent upon request.
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