14 March
2025 – Gytheio
Miles
driven today = 0
Total Miles
to date = 1,923
How smug
were we feeling this morning?! By 10:30
we’d got 2 loads of washing through the site machine and on the line to dry
plus ourselves up, washed and breakfasted and the bikes out of the garage ready
to go exploring.
We’re only 6
kilometres or so from Sparta’s ancient harbour at Gytheio.
It’s a mainly flat ride other than a bit of up
and down past the town of Mavrovouni, which lies on a bend in the coastline in
between.
The road was also wonderfully quiet
with the last section into Gytheio being closed to traffic due to a section
being re-pathed around the harbour.
The Sun is
well and truly back with us and showed the town off as a vibrantly colourful
place.
It was
market day and we spotted some of the “Greek Vitamin” greens we had served up
with lemon and olive oil in a taverna the other night.
We asked one of the market vendors what they
were called.
He showed us the name on a
sign, in Greek of course, and it sounded a bit like “Ekky Nora” but we’re still
none the wiser.
Lisa did
make a cucumber transaction to replenish our salad drawer.
The town
has its own ancient Greek theatre, which is completely free to access and
somewhat overgrown.
We spotted
these two mounted gentlemen in traditional attire.
There were
also loads of kids dressed up in Greek costume at the Eastern Mani City Hall
and there was a large gathering for some sort of al-fresco religious ceremony as
we pedaled past.
Marathonissi
Island, also known by its ancient name of Kranae, is easily accessible via a
short causeway, so we pootled over for a look around.
According to legend the lovers Paris and
Helen of Troy spent their first night together here. When they departed Paris left his helmet behind. How careless!
There are 3
buildings of interest here.
The first is
a small and hugely photogenic chapel.
The second
is the renovated Tzanetakis Tower which was built by the Turks in 1810 to guard
the harbour.
And finally
the lighthouse which had strict No Trespassing signs around it courtesy of the
Hellenic Navy.
The
waterfront had a fine selection of tavernas which, seemingly without exception,
specialized in seafood.
We picked
one called Trata and shared a salad of tomatoes, cucumber and olives with tzatziki and bread to
start.
So simple and yet so full of
flavour and wonderfully fresh.
Then Lisa
had Dorada (Bream) while I had Red Mullet.
It reminded me of that first Greek holiday I had in Zakynthos where we
got chummy with 2 other couples who we had dinner with most nights.
We got invited into the kitchen to see the
catch of the day and all plumped for the Red Mullet.
But Henry, a 6 foot 4 inch copper from
Kingston Upon Thames, thought
they
looked a bit small and so he ordered 2.
Of
course he didn’t realise that you get at least 4 to a portion so he ended up
with 8 fish on his plate!
On the way
back to Camping Mani Beach we detoured along a sandy track which runs the
entire 3km length of Mavrovouni Beach.
We stopped
to admire some of the massive flower spikes on the Agaves which lined the
track.
Lisa for scale.
The sea has
been immeasurably calmer today and we went for a paddle this afternoon.
New arrivals on the site have looked on
enviously at our beachfront position but it was a completely different story
yesterday with the sensible campers all seeking more sheltered spots.
They can fight over our prime location in the
morning.
We move on again and leave the
Mani behind with clothes and bedding lockers full and smelling sweetly.
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