
As the myths go, Gytheio came into being after a
squabble between Apollo and Hercules over the Dephic tripod which Hercules had
stolen when Xenocleia, the priestess of the Delphi oracle, refused to give him
a divination on how he could be cured of his illness. She thought his illness
had something to do with the slaughter of Iphitos. Apollo rushed to get the
tripod back and a terrible fight broke out between the two of them. Zeus put an
end to the fight with one of his famous thunderbolts. The place where the two
gods settled their differences was named “Gy Theon” (Land of Gods) which later
gave rise to the name Gytheio.

There is a lot more history mixed with mythology
that goes with the area but today, it is a quaint fishing town, still a gateway
for tourists to visit Sparta. We wandered its streets, visited the lighthouse
on a small island that is now connected to the mainland with a road and drank
in the view of green hillsides and colorful homes built into them. The water in
the harbor was sparkling clean and teeming with small fish. We paused for a
moment to watch a fisherman as he sat in the back of his boat and mended one of
his nets.


Our time was short in Gytheio but it was a
delightful stop in the Mediterranean just before our entering the Dardanelles
for our trek into the Black Sea. Like Paris, we set sail from the harbor toward
Troy.
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