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Kalamata follows the course of the Langáda river , which gives its name to both the gorge it carves out and the pass at an altitude of 1,415 metres . Near the village is the cave of Kaiadas , into which Spartans are believed to have thrown babies who were too frail or malformed .
“ They say it is there , but would it be true ?”, asks Dimitrios who , after a life spent cruising the seas around the world , decided to retreat to the verdant peaks of the Langáda pass , which separate Laconia from Messenia . “ Three thousand years have passed and that is just a rock , if you like to believe it , go ahead .”
This meeting inspired us and introduced us to these people ’ s sincerity . Dimitrios is not wrong , the bones found in the cave are all adult males in excellent health , sentenced to death for assorted reasons over the centuries .
State road eighty-two is beautiful to ride with its hairpin bends and almost perfect asphalt , after piercing the rock at the most scenic point , the road continued along the river to begin the winding descent on the considerably greener Messenian side .
Few cars and fewer towns , occasionally some stalls of handicrafts . The road ended after less than forty kilometres in
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