The wider region of Avia, around the village Kampos, was during the Ottoman period one of the three main administrative units (kapetanies) of Exo Mani, known by the name Zarnata. The most important site is the homonymous castle. Older testimonies of habitation in the region date to the antiquity. The region has been identified with ancient Gerineia, after Pausanias. Ιn homeric times this was the site of Enope, one of the seven cities that Agamemnon offered to Achilles. The name Zarnata is mentioned for the first time in the 13th century; the region belonged to the Palaiologoi of Mystras until 1460. Kardamyli, a homeric city as well, was also among those offered by Agamemnon to Achilles. In roman times it was Sparta’s harbour, connected to it via the Royal Road over Mt. Taygetus. To the north-east of present day Kardamyli, a steep hill with ancient ruins has been identified as the city’s acropolis. The modern landscape is defined by a typical settlement of the period of the ottoman rule in Mani, with towers and fortified complexes. The fortified complex of Mourtzinoi-Troupakides dominates Ano Kardamyli. Now restored, it houses one of the stations of Mani’s Museum Network, where the history of the villages of the peninsula is presented. Stoupa has been identified with ancient Lefktron or Lefktra and was a stronghold already in ancient times. A dominant steep hill, south of the village was the site of the ancient acropolis. In the mid- 13th century the castle of Lefktro or Oraiokastro (Beaufort) was built here, too.