Gythion Cruises, Greece

If you're fond of history, when you're vacationing on an MSC Mediterranean cruise in Greece, the port of Gythion will welcome you with open arms. As you step aground from your MSC cruise you'll realize that modern Spárti, capital of Lakónia, has few ancient ruins, and today is merely the organizational centre of a huge agricultural plain.

The town owes its limited appeal to its very ordinariness - pedestrianized side streets, café-lined squares and orange trees. But the real reason for coming here on your MSC cruise excursion is basically to see Mystra. Mystra is a Byzantine town, 5km to the west, which once controlled great swathes of the medieval world. There are a few ruins to be seen to the north of the city. From the bold Statue of Leonidas, hero of Thermopylae, at the top of Paleológou, follow the track around and behind the modern stadium towards the old Acropolis, tallest of the Spartan hills. 

An immense theatre here, built into the side of the hill, can be quite clearly traced, even though today most of its masonry has gone - hurriedly adapted for fortification when the