The Travellers' Club - Holidays for discerning travellers Halnaker Park Cottage, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 0QH
Telephone 01243 773597

Painting in the Mani Peninsula Southern Peloponnese

11th - 18th May
18th - 25th May
21st – 28th September
28th Sept – 5th October

with Juliet O’Reilly and Patrick Marsh

 To book this tour, click here

COST: £945 Including flights between London & Kalamata, transfers, accommodation in twin rooms at the Anniska Hotel in Kardamyli, bed & breakfast for 7 nights, lunch each day, 4 dinners, painting tuition, transport for all visits, entrances to museums etc

EXTRAS:travel insurance. Single room supplement £140, 3 dinners.

The Mani Peninsula is recognised as an area of outstanding natural beauty by the Greek Ministry of Tourism: the simple sobriety of the villages with their stone houses, narrow alleyways and harbours stand in dramatic contrast to the local countryside and the Mediterranean. Swathes of colour feast the eye: the deep blue of the sea, the rusty green of the eucalyptus trees, the mauve, red and orange of the bougainvillea.
The Mani Centre, where the painting classes are based, is in a traditional stone-built house set on the hillside just above the village of Kardamyli. The Centre provides an ideal location for classes while the village itself and the surrounding landscape offer a rich variety of subject matter to the artist. Instruction will be given in the morning from 9.30 am. to 1.30 pm. and a cold buffet lunch will then be served. In the afternoons, participants can explore the village and the surrounding countryside, go on excursions, swim, etc.

Participants will stay in the Anniska Apartments, situated in the centre of Kardamyli. This is a hotel of Old World charm with uninterrupted views across the Gulf of Messinia. Breakfast is provided at the hotel and lunch every day and four evening meals are included in the price of the holiday. Participants are free to choose the restaurant of their own choice (there is a wide choice, good quality and inexpensive) on the other evenings.

Date Itinerary
Day 1 London / Kalamata / Kardamyli
Participants leave London on a morning flight to Kalamata where they are met by Juliet O’Reilly and Patrick Marsh and driven to Kardamyli. On the first evening, participants will be offered drinks on the hotel terrace, followed by dinner in a local restaurant.
Day 2 Painting at the Mani Centre
The first class will take place from 9.30 am. to 1.30 pm. and a cold buffet lunch will then be served at the centre. In the afternoon, participants and non-painters are free to paint, walk through the old village or go swimming either on one of the local beaches or in the hotel swimming pool. Dinner will be in a local restaurant.
Day 3 Old Kardamyli and the Viros Gorge
Instruction will take place in the old village of Kardamyli in the morning; participants will be able to admire the Byzantine church of St Spiridon and visit the local museum. Lunch will be at a restaurant in the village and, in the afternoon, there will be an expedition to the Viros Gorge where there are breath-taking views up to the Prophet Elijah – a mountain rising more than 8,000 feet above sea-level – and down to the coastline. Dinner will be in a local restaurant.
Day 4 Kardamyli harbour and Aghia Sofia
In the morning, the colours and shapes of the harbour with its old buildings and traditional wooden boats will offer a tantalising challenge in form and colour to the artist. Lunch in the village is followed by an expedition on foot to the hamlet of Aghia Sofia and its beautiful Byzantine church overlooking Kardamyli. Dinner will be at the Mani Centre, when a guest speaker will give a talk on a subject of local interest.
Day 5 Old Kardamyli, coastal walk to Aghios Nikolaos
In the morning, the painters will return to Old Kardamyli and, after lunch, there will be an expedition to the village Aghios Nikolaos and a walk along the coastal path. Dinner will be in a local restaurant.
Day 6 Kardamyli harbour and the village of Proastio
Participants will have another chance of painting in Kardamyli harbour and, in the afternoon, there will be an expedition through the olive groves to the village of Proastio. Dinner will be at the Mani Centre.
Day 7 The Mani Centre, the high mountain road to the village of Kastania.
Painters will finish their week’s course with a final session at the Mani Centre. Lunch will be served in the centre followed by an expedition to the ancient village of Kastania following roads that take us high into the mountains behind Kardamyli. There will be drinks in the neighbouring village of Aghios Nikolaos before dinner in Kardamyli.
Day 8 Kalamata / London
After breakfast, we leave for Kalamata airport and the return flight to London, arriving mid-afternoon at Gatwick airport.
 




Painting in Greece

Tour Leaders

The painting holidays are organised by Patrick Marsh and Juliet O’Reilly. When she was in London, Juliet worked at Agnew's, the well-known London art dealers and, more recently, she ran her own art gallery in Dublin. She has spent many years promoting the interests of English and Irish painters and it is from her ‘stable’ of artists that come the instructors for the courses. Patrick has taught at universities in England, Ireland and France and studied art at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford and at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. He has exhibited his work in England, Ireland and France.

 

Painting Instructors

Lesley Fennell trained at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin under Sean Keating and Maurice McGonigle and at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London. Lesley has shown her paintings regularly at the Royal Hibernian Academy.
Maurice Henderson studied at the Brighton College of Art, Goldsmith’s College and the Wimbledon School of Art. He exhibited alongside Hockney with the ‘Young Contemporaries’ before moving to Ireland in 1973.
Carey Clarke R.H.A. Carey is one of Ireland’s leading figurative, representational painters and was a former President of the Royal Hibernian Academy. He was a full-time lecturer in the Department of Painting at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin for 32 years. His subject matter includes landscape, still-life, portraiture and architectural images; he is completely versatile in all painting media.
 

Recommended Reading

there are many excellent guides to Greece and to the Peloponnese; we particularly recommend Patrick Leigh Fermor's Mani (Penguin) – a fascinating account of the culture and customs of the Mani Peninsula.
 

BOOKING

Please return a booking form, with a deposit of £200 per person to PRESTIGE HOLIDAYS, 1 Fridays Court, Ringwood, Hants BH24 1JA (our ABTA [13176] & ATOL [2509] and AITO bonded Travel Agents - Tel 01425 480600) as soon as possible and NOT LATER THAN 30 DECEMBER 2007. Prestige can advise on insurance but you may use your own. We reserve the right to cancel the tour if there are insufficient members, in which case your deposit will be refunded in full.