Stoupa is built at the foothills of Taygetos, in an area overgrown with olive groves behind two sandy coves.
Its first inhabitants came from the small village of Lefktro, which is located slightly further inland. The village’s first name was Potamos, from the river Drakos or Drakolagado, which crossed it. It was later renamed Stoupa. The name reportedly comes from the Arabic word ‘stupa'”, which’, meaning ‘beach’ or ‘sea’.
Stoupa has also been named the ‘Fairy of Messenia’, thanks to its unique natural landscape and shallow, sandy beaches with crystal clear waters with freshwater springs in the shallow depths.
Nikos Kazantzakis and Alexis Zorbas lived in Stoupa. They both worked in the now-abandoned lignite mines of Prastova in Neo Proastio, where they met. Here, Kazantzakis was inspired and wrote the 1946 classic novel, ‘Zorba The Greek’, which was later turned into a blockbuster movie in 1964. In the northern part of the beach he had his small house, while on the southern cape he used to find shelter in a cave, (today known as “Kazantzakis’ cave”), where he wrote most of the book.