Greece - Korina Miller [150]
Hotel Aivali ( 27340 22287; Akti Voion 164; s/d €50/60; ) is a small family hotel, ideally located right on the seafront, close to the ferry dock for Kythira. Like all the hotels in town, it’s booked out from mid-July to August.
There are numerous lively ouzeries (places that serve ouzo and appetisers) along the waterfront, serving the local speciality: delicious grilled octopus.
There are daily ferries from Neapoli to Diakofti on Kythira. Tickets are sold at Vatika Bay Shipping Agency ( 27340 24004), 350m before the small bridge. (Leave plenty of time to find the place and buy the ticket.) Island Hopping for more details.
KTEL ( 27340 23222) has buses from Neapoli to Athens (€33, three daily) via Sparta (€12.80, three hours, three daily) and Molai (€6, 1¼ hours). Molai is the place to change buses for Monemvasia.
Rent a Moto Elafonisos ( 27340 61377) might be a useful point of call if you want to see Elafonisi once there.
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GYTHIO ΓΥΘΕΙΟ
pop 4489
Once the port of ancient Sparta, Gythio (yee-thih-o) is the gateway to the Lakonian Mani. This attractive fishing town’s bustling waterfront has pastel-coloured, 19th-century buildings, behind which crumbling old Turkish houses and scruffy streets cling to a steep, wooded hill.
Orientation
Gythio is easy to get around. Most restaurants and cafes are along the seafront on Akti Vasileos Pavlou. The bus station is at the northeastern end, past the small triangular park known as the Perivolaki (meaning ‘tree-filled’). Behind this is the main square, Plateia Panagiotou Venetzanaki.
The local shopping area, and the main approach to/from town is Ermou. The square at the southwestern end of Akti Vasileos Pavlou is Plateia Mavromihali, hub of the old quarter of Marathonisi. The ferry quay is situated opposite this square. Beyond it the waterfront road becomes Kranais, which leads south to the road to Areopoli. A causeway leads out to Marathonisi Islet at the southern edge of town.
Information
EOT ( /fax 27330 24484; Vasileos Georgiou 20; 8am-2.30pm Mon-Fri) This is the information equivalent of Monty Python’s famous cheese-free cheese shop: remarkably information-free, even by EOT’s lamentable standards.
Hassanakos Bookstore ( 27330 22064; Akti Vasileos Pavlou 39) Also stocks international newspapers.
Internet Jolly Café (cnr Dirou & Grigoraki; per hr €2.50) One block from the bus station.
Kostas Vretto’s Antiquities Shop (Vassileos Pavlou 25) Not official information per se, but this philosopher-poet-man-of-the-world is well worth a visit.
Police ( 27330 22100; Akti Vasileos Pavlou)
Post office (cnr Ermou & Arheou Theatrou; 7.30am-2pm Mon-Fri)
Sights & Activities
MARATHONISI ISLET
According to mythology, tranquil pine-shaded Marathonisi is ancient Cranae, where Paris (prince of Troy) and Helen (wife of Menelaus) consummated the affair that sparked the Trojan Wars. The 18th-century Tzanetakis Grigorakis tower at the centre of the island houses a small Museum of Mani History (adult/concession €2/1; 8am-2.30pm), which relates Maniot history through the eyes of European travellers who visited the region between the 15th and 19th centuries. Upstairs, the architecturally minded will find an absorbing collection of plans of the castle and Maniot towers.
ANCIENT THEATRE
Gythio’s small but well-preserved ancient theatre is next to an army camp on the northern edge of town. It’s signposted off Ermou, along Arheou Theatrou. (Turn right after the post office.) You can scramble up the hill behind the theatre to get to the ancient acropolis, now heavily overgrown. Most of ancient Gythio lies beneath the nearby Lakonian Gulf.
BEACHES
There’s safe swimming along the 6km of sandy beaches that extend from the village of Mavrovouni, 2km south of Gythio.
Sleeping
There are many domatia signs along the waterfront. Taxis to/from Mavrovouni and Gythio cost €5.
Camping Meltemi ( 27330 23260; www.campingmeltemi.gr; Mavrovouni beach; camp sites per adult/tent/car €6/5/4,