First day at the beach

I packed up the kids and went to the beach in Gythio. For your viewing pleasure here is a clip of the area www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEUPtao4O8E . I figured Vodafone was not going to call on a Sunday with a solution to my connection problems as its stores are closed. If you are a cautious driver I warn you now about driving in Greece. Few people obey the traffic rules and though passing one another is legal in many places it is often illegally and dangerously done. Around 4 p.m. we drove 32 km from Sparti/Sparta past countless olive groves set in terraced plots on hillsides. Along the way beautiful Weeping Willows, pink blossomed Daphne and proud Mediterranean Cyprus trees lined the road with the steep mountains of the Taigetos, as wondrous as ever, set behind them. The drive took about 25 minutes as the road is quite curvy.
Gythio is rumored to be the port from which Helen sailed from on her fateful voyage to Troy. Every time I drive this route, E65, from my parents' to Gythio I think of Helen's mad abduction by or her elopement with Paris millennia ago. In Greece, Helen is called Beautiful Helen or Helen of Sparta rather than Helen of Troy since she originated and returned here after Troy's fall.
Gythio is also famous for its seafood. You can sit right by the sea and feed bread to little black fish from your table. You are welcomed inside the restaurants to pick the fish you want to eat too. Two popular things for adults to order are wine seared octopus and ouzo served over ice. I'm sure your kids like mine will love to eat the hand cut fries and fresh fish after swimming. Here is a great panorama of a shipwreck in Gythio's bay along with its rumor, a popular Greek pastime, http://www.360cities.net/image/gytheio_shipwreck. Some people crawl around and inside of it but I wouldn't recommend it. From Gythio you can take ferries to some of the islands. Try www.greek-islands-ferries.gr/ferry_gytheio.htm for more information.
One family favorite is the small island of Kythera.This small island is famous as the first place Aphrodite or Venus came to land from her sea foam birth. It is legal for you to scuba dive off its coast and equipment can be rented in the towns. Some of the Parthenon's marble statues fell into the sea off the coast of Kythera when they were stolen from Greece and taken to England for "safe keeping." A site to learn more on the history of the statues and their present state is http://www.greece.org/parthenon/marbles/ . On this site there is a page especially for children. Besides Greek mythology there are strong Greek Orthodox connections of miracles related to the Virgin Mary or Panagia as we call her on this island. Take a look at http://gogreece.about.com/cs/greekislands/a/kytheraaphrodit.htm .
Looking for your kids to connect Kythera and Sparti? Have them make a family tree of the gods and goddesses from Greek mythology. For instance, Kythera is the "birthplace" of Aphrodite. Her parentage is questionable with Zeus possibly being her father. She was married to Hephaestus. Her son was Eros or Cupid. Helen's father was Zeus as well and her mother was Leda (Nemesis). Aphrodite and Eros played some part in Helen's abandonment of Menelaus as pictured in this vase http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen as Aphrodite promised Helen to Paris. Make sure to leave plenty of room on the family tree for all of Zeus' children. Mythological or religious family trees can be done from a variety of countries' perspectives.