Pylos is a small town in the southwest of the Peloponnese in the prefecture of Messenia. It is located 305 kilometres away from Athens, 215 kilometres from Patras and 52 kilometres from Kalamata. The old city of Pylos and the new one are kilometres away in different settlements, the old one northwest of the bay and the new one southeast. Pylos is built in the natural bay of Navarino that is protected by a long island called Sfaktiria. In the battle of Pylos during the Peloponnesian War (425 BC) the Spartans were defeated and captured on this island. The island of Sfaktiria has been separated into many different parts from the force of the waves and one can see today monuments and Tombs from people who fought in the battle of Navarino in 1827 during the Greek War of Indepedence.
Excavations in 1952 brought to the light the Mycenaean palace which was named after Nestor (Palace of Nestor) who ruled Pylos in Homer’s poems. According to Thukidides a fortress found near Sfaktiria was of Mycenaean origin and it was used by the Spartans during the Peloponnesian War.
Pylos was occupied by the Venetians in 1471 who built fortresses in both new and old Navarino and followed by the Turks in1499. In 1821 with the Greek War of Independence the Turks were forced to surrender the castle. In 1825 Imbrahem occupied the castle and the town but they were regained by the allied forces with the sea battle of Navarino.
Pylos is the birth town of Kostis Tsiklitiras the Olympic winner of the Olympic Games held in Stockholm in 1912. His house is about to be restored and used as a cultural center.
Greece