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YÍTHIO (GYTHION) |
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YÍTHIO
, Sparta's ancient port, is the gateway to the dramatic Máni peninsula, and one of the south's most attractive seaside towns in its own right. Its somewhat low-key harbour, with occasional ferries to Pireás and Kythira, gives onto a graceful nineteenth-century waterside of tiled-roof houses - some of them now showing their age. There's a beach within walking distance and rooms are relatively easy to find. In the bay, tethered by a long narrow mole, is the
islet of Marathonísi
, ancient Kranae, where Paris of Troy, having abducted Helen from Menelaus's palace at Sparta, dropped anchor, and where the lovers spent their first night.
The Town
Marathonísi
is the town's main sight, a pleasant place to while away an hour or so in the early evening, with swimming off the rocks towards the lighthouse. Amid the island's trees and scrub stands the restored Tzannetákis tower-fortress built...
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