PeloPonneseTHEM
ANIPeloPonneseGET TINGT
HE
rE & AWAYPeloPonneseG Y T H I Oand Molai (€7, 1¼ hours). Change in Molai
for Monemvasia.
Nearby, the small island of Elafonisi is
renowned for its white beaches and visiting
loggerhead turtles. Regular ferries make the
10-minute trip (up to 15 daily) from Pounda,
8km west of Neapoli.
Gythio Γύθειο
POP 4700
Once the port of ancient Sparta, Gythio (yee-
thih-o) is the gateway to the Lakonian Mani.
This pretty fishing town makes a pleasant but
not terribly thrilling stopover if you’re travel-
ling between the Mani and Sparta or Monem-
vasia or if you’re taking a ferry to Kythira. You
can count Gythio’s attractions on two fingers:
the long stretch of Mavrovouni beach, 2km
south of Gythio, and pine-shaded Mara-
thonisi Islet, alleged to be ancient Cranae,
where Paris of Troy and Helen consummated
the affair that sparked the Trojan War.
You can bed down at Saga Pension
(%27330 23220; http://www.sagapension.gr; Kranais;
s/d/tr €40/50/55; aW), a tranquil French-
run place overlooking the islet, or seek out
Camping Meltemi (%27330 23260; http://www.
campingmeltemi.gr; camp sites per tent/adult
€5.50/6, bungalows €30-60; hApr-Oct; Ws),
the pick of Mavrovouni’s campgrounds, with
excellent facilities.
As you can imagine, fresh fish features
rather prominently on the menus of tavernas
that cluster along the seafront between the
pier and the causeway to Marathonisi Islet;
family-run O Potis (%27330 23245; mains €8-
15; hnoon-11pm) is our favourite.
8 Getting There & Away
BOAT
LANE Lines (www.lane.gr; per person/car
€23/70) has one weekly ferry to Crete via Kyth-
ira and Antikythira. Check the schedule with
Rozakis Travel (%27330 22207; rosakigy@
otenet.gr; Pavlou 5), on the waterfront.
BUS
The KTEL Lakonia bus station (%27330 22228;
http://www.ktel-lakonias.gr; cnr Vasileos Georgios &
Evrikleos) is northwest along the waterfront,
near Jande Café. Services run north to Athens
(€23.80, 4½ hours, six daily) or via Sparta
(€4.30, one hour) and Tripoli (€9.70); and south
to Areopoli (€2.60, 30 minutes, four daily), Geroli-
menas (€6, 1¼ hours, three daily), the Diros Caves
(€3.70, one hour, one daily) and Vathia (€6.80, 1½
hours, Monday, Wednesday and friday).
To make the 6.15am Kalamata connection at
Itilo, take the 5am bus (€3.80, 45 minutes, daily
except Sunday) or go via Sparta. for Monemva-
sia, change at Sparta.THE MANI Η ΜAΝΗ
Covering the central peninsula in the south
of the Peloponnese, the Mani is a wild, rug-
ged region. Greeks from elsewhere will tell
you: so are its people, who regard them-
selves as direct descendants of the Spartans.
After the decline of Sparta, citizens loyal
to the principles of Lycurgus (founder of
Sparta’s constitution) chose to withdraw
to the mountains rather than serve under
foreign masters. Later, refugees from oc-
cupying powers joined these people, who
became known as Maniots, from the Greek
word ‘mania’. For centuries the Maniots
were a law unto themselves, renowned for
their fierce independence, resentment of at-
tempts to govern them and for their bitter,
spectacularly murderous internal feuds.
The Ottoman Turks failed to subdue the
Maniots and largely left them alone, yet Mani
became the cradle of rebellion that grew into
the War of Independence. Post-Greek victory,
though there had been a fatal falling out with
the first president of independent Greece
over the spoils of victory bypassing the Ma-
niots, they nevertheless reluctantly became
part of the new kingdom in 1834.
From the steep foothills of the snow-tipped
Taÿgetos Mountains to the pristine coastal
coves; from the tiny villages nestling amid
olive groves, connected by threads of walking
trails, to the arid scenery in the south of pen-
insula, speckled with abandoned stone tow-
ers; the Mani has some of the most dramatic
and varied scenery in the Peloponnese, much
of it still wonderfully underexplored.
The Mani is generally divided into the
Messinian Mani (or outer Mani) and the
Lakonian Mani (or inner Mani). The Messin-
ian Mani starts southeast of Kalamata and
runs south between the coast and the Taÿge-
tos Mountains, while the Lakonian Mani cov-
ers the rest of the peninsula south of Itilo.Lakonian Mani
Grey rock, mottled with defiant clumps of
green scrub, characterises the steep, forbid-
ding mountains of inner Mani. Cultivatable
land is at a premium here, and supports lit-
tle more than a few stunted olives and figs.