Taenaron - an entrance to the underworld

The peninsula area of the Peleponnese are called "Mani" (hand), which makes each of the peninsula a virtual "finger".  Although we had explored part of the first finger at the top with Pylos, on this trip, I wanted to get down to the tip of each of the fingers.  That would prove to be both impractical and wasteful as there is not always anything of any significance beyond a lighthouse, and more importantly, there is not always a real way to get to the tip without a boat.

But the second finger has Taenaron, was noted in antiquity to be one of the Gates of Hades, where Heracles descended for his 12th labor to capture Cerberus, and where Orpheus descended to bring back the soul of Eurydice, had a ruin, and therefore, had a road.

The remains of Poseidon's Sanctuary and Death Oracle sit beside the cliffs which descend to the Mediterranean Sea. Although the structure was Romanized and repurposed as a Byzantine chapel, which gave it an arched doorways and rounded back, you can still see the original structure in large blocks and straight walls, and particularly a side entrance, which was rather unceremoniously blocked with random rocks.

Afterward, I just had to dip my feet in the water.  Did you know that the holes in the limestone were filled with snails???