Travel Day to Gythio

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Left Nafplio in the early morning for the hour and a half bus drive to Tripoli. We took an absolutely beautiful route: right across the rugged mountains of Arcadia. In the Greek tradition, Arcadia always appears as a type of Eden, a perfect pastoral world of happy shepherds. And from the drive this morning I can see why. We wound up a steep mountain pass with stunning views not only to the surrounding countryside, but also to the water below. Tripoli is one of the big transportation hubs in the Peloponnese. A nice looking place, but only got out at the bus station.

Then headed South to Sparta and the region of Lakonia, before catching one last bus about another hour that finally took me to Gythio. This is basically a smaller version of Nafplio, and was actually the port of Ancient Sparta. It's a beautiful place, and really only has one little stretch of boardwalk, a bunch of small, home-run restaurants, and a collection of pastel houses that barely climb up this really steep hill that goes up from the water. As you can guess, then, all of the hotels are right on the main road, and look out over the water. I was lucky to get a top level room with a balcony. A great place to sit in the evenings and watch what's going on in the harbor.

For the next couple of days this is my base for exploring the countryside. Tomorrow I start with Mystras, another wonderful collection of ruins right outside of Sparta.

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Photos

Little Marathonisi Islet
According to mythology, this is where Helen and Paris first met up - and ultimately kicked off the Trojan War