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 around 1810 by the Turkish-appointed Bey of the Máni, to guard the harbour against his lawless countrymen. It now houses a
Museum of the Máni (officially 9.30am-3pm, though often closed; ¬1.50), which deals with the exploration of the Máni from Ciriaco de Pizzicoli (1447) to Henri Belle (1861), with captions in Greek and English.
For an aerial view of the islet and town, climb up through Yíthio's stepped streets on to the hill behind - the town's ancient acropolis. The settlement around it, known as Laryssion , was quite substantial in Roman times, enjoying wealth from the export of murex, the purple-pigmented mollusc used to dye imperial togas.
Much of the ancient site now lies submerged but there are some impressive remains of a Roman theatre to be seen at the northeast end of the town. Follow the road past the post office for about 300m, until you reach the army barracks - the site stands just to the left, inside the outer gate. With most of its stone seats intact, and 50m in diameter, the theatre illustrates perfectly how buildings in Greece take on different guises through the ages: built to one side is a Byzantine church (now ruined) which, in turn, has been pressed into service as the outer wall of the barracks. The archeological museum is currently under restoration, but possesses items from Yíthio and the Lakonian Máni. For some more recent history, visit poet Kostas Vrettos' antiquities shop, Paliatzoures, at Vassiléos Pávlou 25.
