Vassilis Konstantakopoulos - Messinian Hero

Vassilis Konstantakopoulos, one of Greece's best-known shipowners and the man behind one of the country's biggest tourist resorts, Costa Navarino in the Peloponnese, has died at the age of 76.

Konstantakopoulos, also known as "Kapetan" (Captain) Vassilis, had been fighting cancer.

After spending two decades as a seaman and captain in merchant shipping, Konstantakopoulos established the Costamare Shipping Company in 1974.

Today it has a fleet of 46 Greek-flagged ships, making it the largest independent cargo fleet in the world, according to the Athens News Agency.

With the Chinese state shipping group COSCO as its biggest charter client, Costamare set the pace for Greek owners entering the "China trade", which is credited with making billionaires out of dozens of Athens-based operators in the mid-2000s.

Konstantakopoulos - known in Beijing as Captain Vassili - kept ahead of the pack, forming an early joint venture with Chinese interests and building a series of container vessels at Chinese yards considered high risk at the time by more conservative owners.

When China started looking towards commercial expansion in the Balkans, he facilitated a 4bn euro concession deal between COSCO and the Greek government to develop a container terminal at Piraeus port as a hub for regional trade.

After his two sons, Costis and Achilleas, took over the day-to-day running of Costamare's shipping and tourist operations respectively, he had plenty of time to build cultural bridges.

Costamare opened Greece's first golf resort - Costa Navarino - last year close to the family's ancestral village in the Peloponnese.

Konstantakopoulos and his family had spent more than 25 years buying land in the Peloponnese so the complex could be constructed. The cost of the whole project exceeded 1 billion euros.

"This unit was not built just so we could make money," he told Skai Radio in a recent interview. "It took 28 years to buy all this land. Whatever land I bought, I bought there, I don't own any other land. If I'd wanted to make money, I would have invested in other things.

Why Stay In Koroni Messinia

Koroni is one of the most beautiful towns in Greece it has beautiful beaches and  is built in and around a castle,  This picture perfect town has an island feel about it, not only does it feel like an island but is also the beginning of the Ionian Islands such as Sapienza.
 These 3 islands are world heritage listed meaning no one can build or camp overnight on them, they have an abundance of wild life such as birds and reptiles.
These birds are stopping over before their flight to Africa, It is also one of the few places in euorope and Greece that you will find the logger head turtle who come to nest here especially the ones who nest beneath our propertys.
Koroni is a short drive from its sister Castles of Methoni & Pylos and only 50min drive to the largest city in the state of Messinia , Kalamata  is better known for its olives boasting some of the most fertile land in Greece, it has a population of 60,000.
Kalamata is renowned as the land of the Kalamatianos dance and the silk kerchief; of succulent dark olives, honey-eyed figs and the honey-covered sesame sweet called pasteli. The city can be reached from other Greek cities by bus and train. Furthermore, the city has an international airport and an important harbour. Ferries are available to places such as the Greek islands of Kythira, and Crete .
Kalamata has schools, lyceums, gymnasia, banks, a post office, and squares (plateia). The newly established University of the Peloponnese has a campus in Kalamata, it also has most the modern hospitals in Greece.
The name Kalamata may be related with the Greek phrase kala matia which means beautiful eyes.
Koroni is only a short drive to the best golf courses in Greece which was the brain child of the late and great Vasilli Konstkopoulos
.Koroni has something that the other castles dont have its the fact that when you look across the Messinian Gulf you are confronted by the second largest Mountain in Greece rising to 2,344 m or 7,690 feet, its is an awesome sight especially when its peak  has a snow cover.

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