SIGHTSEEING

Gytheio

Welcome in Gythio, a stately town standing centuries over the clear sea of the Laconian Bay. Cosmopolitan atmosphere, island breezes and a variety of choices in the place called in Greek language the “Earth of Gods”. God Apollo brawled here with Hercules for the magic tripod of Delphi and finally reconciled, giving the place its current name. Gytheio use to be the port of ancient Sparti and soon developed into the foremost export center of Laconia.

To the north of the modern town and up the hill, the ruins of the acropolis witness the existence of the ancient city. At the foot of the hill, the ancient theater lies, where even today, cultural events take place. The ruins of Roman buildings refer to the heyday of Gytheio in Roman times when it belonged to the “League of Free”.

The New Town of Gythio rises amphitheatrically at the eastern foot of the ancient “Larysion Mountain”, now called by locals “Akoumaros” or “Koumaros”, just above the main port, considered the safest of SE Peloponnese, from where citrus (especially oranges), oil, olives and other derivatives thereof are exported.

Sightseeing:

• Gythio: Shipwreck Dimitrios

• Kranai Island, with the beautiful Tower of Tzanetakis Grigorakis, that today houses the Historical and Ethnological Museum of Mani, and the island’s lighthouse built in 1837 with its height reaching 23 meters.

• The Girls’ School, built in 1886, and the Town Hall built in 1891 by architect Ziller in the city center.

• The chapel of Agii Pantes at the top of Mount Akumaros, with panoramic views across the Laconian Gulf.

• The Archaeological Museum, which is housed in the Town Hall contains a collection of the ancient city of Gytheion, the Laconian Mani and a collection of inscriptions concerning the political and social history of the region during the Roman period.

• The Ancient Theater of Gytheion, at the northern end of the city, as well as the acropolis west of the theater in “Palaiopoli”, the northeastern part of modern Gytheion.

Sightseeing Mani (25 – 100 km):

• Limeni

• Areopoli

• The Glyfada (or Vlychada) Cave Dirou is the most beautiful lake cave in the world. Below the Maniatic soil there is an untold beauty…

• Tigani, Castle and Church of Panagia Giatrissa

• Gerolimenas

• Porto Kagio

• Achilleion

• Vathia, is one of the most impressive traditional settlements. It stands on the verge of a hill, flooded by two-storey and three-storey imposing towers of Mani, which constitute an invaluable architectural treasure for our country. Along with the other stone-built buildings of the settlement, they create a real fortress-guard of the area…

• Akrotiri Tainaro or “Poseidonion” as it was known during the antiquity, or “Kavo Matapas” as it was called by the Franks. Here were the Gates of Hades in mythology. On the west you will find Cape Marmari and on the east there is Porto Cayo. There dominates the Temple of Poseidon as well as the “Star of Aria”, a mosaic of the 1st century AD.

Sightseeing Monemvasia (25 – 100 km):

• Elafonissos

• Port of Gerakas (Greek Fjord)

• Petrified Palm Tree of Neapolis

• Cave of Kastania

Sightseeing Sparta (42 – 60 km):

• The Museum of Olive Oil and Greek Olive Oilin Sparta travels you to the culture, history, technology of olive and olive oil production in Greece, from the prehistoric times until the beginning of the 20th century.

• Archaeological Museum of Sparta

• Mystras was the Byzantine state of the Peloponnese. Today it is ruined and is a valuable source for the knowledge of the history, art and culture of the last two centuries of Byzantium.

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