Mansions in Kranidi

The Skull is a town in the prefecture of Argolis and is located at the southeastern tip of the Peloponnese. Its population is 4.000 inhabitants and it is about 50 km away from Nafplio and communicates with Piraeus and the islands of the Saronic Gulf through the ports of Ermioni and Portocheli and is today its headquarters. Municipality of Ermionida.

Kranidi is built amphitheatrically on the hills of Agia Anna and Bardounia.

According to one version, its modern name comes from helmet, which means rough and is considered indicative of the area.

There was a strong naval force, with a large number of merchant ships, during the years of Turkish rule, which maintained a status of semi-independence and was also known as "Lower Nahaye", which means lower province. It was one of the few urban centers in Greece, while in 1823-1824 it was the seat of the Government and the Executive Body.

Today's Kranidi has a characteristic island color reminiscent of the islands of the Saronic Gulf, while the traditional architecture of houses that give a high aesthetic effect.

More specifically, the first houses of Kranidi (until 1850) "Agricultural", were single-storey and later two-storey, poor, built with cheap materials, without street plan and without provision of squares and streets.

They were also separated by small narrow streets, the "rookies" as they are called, the space of which does not allow even the comfortable passage of a person. From 1850 to 1925, and especially in 1840 - 1890 during the heyday of sailing in Greece, where Kranidi starred, at the same time with the financial strength of the city, there was a flourishing and boom of reconstruction. Only that "Rural" houses are no longer being built, but the so-called "Captainess", the houses of the masters, made of better materials and hewn stone, while they are more square and with larger surfaces, with frames around the windows and doors, neoclassical type acrokerama and ornate balconies. Later, from 1925 onwards, the "Commercial" buildings which were a little lower than Kapetaneika and with a smaller area, while they always made sure that there was a large storage space and a shop that looked out onto the street, with the characteristic skylights above the doors and windows.

Today, the part of the settlement located in Kato Kranidi preserves almost entirely the traditional architecture of the place. Its special image, in addition to the characteristics for the local architecture of the City Hall and the library, is completed by the well of Pyrgos, the three renovated windmills, the traditional olive presses with large stones and its many chapels.