VATHIA
MANI PENINSULA, GREECE
Image Number 328
Vathia is a village in Laconia, Greece, on the Mani Peninsula. It is famous for its grand towers (pyrgoi). Vathia is situated in a hilly setting, and is linked by road north to Areopoli and Kalamata and south to Cape Matapan. On the hilltops are abandoned homes resembling fortresses and built from local stone. When Atticus first visited the area in the late 1970’s Vathia was a ghost town populated by a handful of widows who peeped from their windows at the approach of intruders. It was inaccessible and forbidding. Now Vathia is a tourist attraction and modern replica towers have sprung up inside and around it. Sad.
TECHNICAL NOTES
The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 200. Exposure of 1/200th of a second and aperture F4.5. 150mm Phase One telephoto lens with focal plane shutter. The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.