Dimitsana’s sister village ten minutes south — a silversmithing tradition that runs back to the Ottoman period, working ateliers in the village, and a small folk museum that is one of the best in the Peloponnese.
Stemnitsa sits at 1,080 metres on the same Menalon balcony as Dimitsana — slightly higher, slightly cooler, slightly quieter. The architecture is identical Ottoman-period stone; the trade is silver.
Stemnitsa was, from the 17th century until the early 20th, the silversmithing capital of the Peloponnese. The Ottoman tax registers list more than fifty silversmiths in the village in the 1700s; the trade survived through the 20th century and is now taught at a state school of silversmithing in the village. Two or three working ateliers will sell you ecclesiastical pieces, jewellery, and engraved coffee cups; the small Folk Museum (housed in the 18th-century Sotirios Hadjis mansion) has the best ethnographic collection in central Arcadia — recreated workshops for silversmith, candle-maker, baker, weaver, and a recreated kitchen and bedroom from a wealthy 19th-century house. The village square is shaded by plane trees and centred on a small church with frescoes worth a quick look. Stemnitsa is the western trailhead of the Menalon Trail: walk eight kilometres down to the Lousios gorge and the Prodromou monastery in three hours, with shuttle pick-up at the bottom. Stay one or two nights; combine with Dimitsana (10 min) and Karytaina (35 min).
A one-night Stemnitsa stay.
Park, walk in, coffee on the square.
An hour at the Hadjis mansion.
Twenty minutes in one of the working shops.
Stone lanes, the small church, views west.
Slow mountain food on a vine terrace.
Three hours on the Menalon Trail. Shuttle back.
Within forty minutes.
Ten minutes north — the larger sister village. Detail on the Dimitsana page.
The canyon below — Prodromou and Philosophou monasteries. Detail on the Lousios page.
Thirty-five minutes south-west — Frankish castle. Detail on the Karytaina page.
Forty minutes east — leafier mountain resort. Detail on the Vytina page.
Tell us a little about the trip you want — pace, who's coming, how you'd like to spend your mornings. We'll build the days.
