– abandoned histories in monemvasia & mystras –
Pelopponnese is a peninsula that lies west of the Greek mainland. It was once connected to the mainland before the construction of a canal at Corinth in the late 1800’s. I know very little about ancient Greek history, but I do remember studying about the fierce Spartans and this – not surprisingly when you see the landscape – is where they came from.
The two locations which stood out during our 5 day visit to the Peloponnese were Mystras and Monemvasia.
We visited Mystras in about half a day. We spent the morning driving there from Athens, stopping on the way to see the Corinth Canal and then for lunch just up the hill from the Mystras site.
This was one of the best meals we had in Greece set in a beautiful garden with honest, traditional food with a refined modern twist.
Mystras wasn’t far from the restaurant. It’s a fortified medieval town which was once a Byzantine capital, built down the the side of a steep slope in the Taygetos Mountains. Now abandoned, it’s eerily beautiful and evocative of a much grander time. The best preserved buildings are all religious though it also has a small museum on site. We started our visit at the top of the mountain slope. The best approach is to then slowly make your way down the old streets and archways to the bottom of town, visiting the churches and other buildings along the way.
Here are some highlights of our afternoon at Mystras, beginning with a view of about half of the slope from the fortress up the top down to the abbey – there is another half of the town below the abbey.
This is what remains on the fortress at the top of the hill.
And we saw many churches as we made our way down the slope:
A short interlude for a couple of cat pics. Have I mentioned before that in Greece they love cats!
And another Church – you get the idea! This was perhaps the most beautiful and serene of all the Churches we visited on the day:
From Mystras we drove directly on to Monemvasia where we planned to spend two nights. There are very few places on earth that I would describe as magical, but Monemvasia is definitely one of them. It sits on the list with Venice and Dubrovnik – but unlike them, it’s tiny, intimate, relatively peaceful and hasn’t acquired the “Disneyland” factor. It’s real and it’s a gem.
Monemvasia is a small island connected to to the mainland by a causeway. It’s pedestrian only, so you have to leave the car either on the mainland or on the road leading from the causeway up to the city gate. This is a photo of the island – the fortified town is behind the hill on the right side as viewed from this angle.
Like Mystras, it too is an ancient fortified medieval town, but one that has come back to life. It exists mostly as a tourist town, but the controls on development are such that buildings and streets are very faithfully restored and its small size and geographic features should ensure that it remains intimate and rustic.
The “old” town, which is still mostly ruins, is located on the top of the hill – it’s possible to just make out a couple of structures in the photo above. Whilst the “new” town (which is still medieval) spills down the slope to the sea. The new town is fortified by way of a beautifully preserved thick stone wall on three sides, with an opening in the front wall facing out to sea – which was used to transport goods into town from boats arriving by sea.
We spent our day in Monemvasia just wandering through the town. Peering over the sea wall into the beautiful Aegean and getting splashed at the “swimming” spot – not exactly a paddling pool!
We just wandered the cobbled streets and beautiful houses and churches – there aren’t really any landmarks – it’s just a place to ramble around, which is nice:
By late afternoon, it was cool enough to consider a climb up the hill to the old town:
This beautiful medieval church just seems to be hanging up onto the edge of the sea cliff:
And the views from its portico out to sea were magnificent:
But it’s in the evening and night when the town becomes magically romantic. First an aperitif at our hotel – the building to the left of the tree:
And then slow wander towards dinner: 
A nice meal on a balcony at a small restaurant and then a final meander around the town, of course accompanied by cats all the way:
What a magical place…. nothing more to say really!
