Villa ValleyView

Nestors Palace at Hora - Villa ValleyView

Villa ValleyView

Nestors Palace at Hora

North of Pylos, on the way to Kyparissia, you will find a road leading to the village of Hora (also spelled as Chora). This road meanders up the mountain, giving beautiful views of the coastal line beneath. Nestors Palace will be on your left hand, well signaled. At this archaeological site you will find the remains of a 3.000 years old palace with a remarkable intact (and therefore famous) bath tub. Originally a two story building, the palace’s walls stand 1m high, giving a good idea of the layout of a Mycenaean palace complex. The site is roofed to create shadow, so do not hesitate to go there on a hot day. 

There are plenty of explanatory placards on the site. If you read them all, and it won’t take very long, you’ll come away with a much better sense of the historical importance of this site. The palace was inhabited from the 13th to the 11th century B.C. It is so called because it is believed to have been the court of the mythical hero Nestor, who took part in the voyage of the Argonauts and fought in the Trojan War. It’s the best preserved of all Mycenaean palaces. The most important finds were script tablets, the first discovered on the mainland. Some are in the Archaeological of Hora (while the objects in this museum are interesting -mostly from the Palace of Nestor and nearby Micenean tombs- their display is desperately old). The museum is not at the site itself, but in the village of Hora. Do also not miss the separate Tholos Tomb.

The drinks and ice-cream kiosk at Nestors Palace is great – it provides a shady place to sit and gives a view down the valley to “Sandy Pylos” and beyond.