greece (day 3) - mystras and monemvasia
the morning in mystras was incredibly hazy; it feels like there is a thin fog hanging over the entire peloponnese.
breakfast came with my hotel stay and included toast, jam, honey, yogurt, fresh orange juice, and “high gtade” coffee.
when i checked out of the hotel, the innkeeper asked if i was planning on seeing the castle, and after confirming, he offered to let me park at the bottom and then give me a ride to the top, this way, i could just walk from the top down. i politely declined saying i was interested in the hike and had a lot of time. this was all before i learned the castle was over 1000 meters from the bottom :)
mystras was a center of power in medieval laconia and served as the capital of the byzantine despotate of morea in the 14th and 15th centuries. in the 18th century, mystras was looted by the albanian ottomans, leaving the town in ruins and leading to near abandonment as most of the population migrated to neighboring sparta (yes, that one). today, mystras has some of the best-preserved examples of byzantine architecture and religious frescoes.
the town has layers and i slowly wound my way up the site. first was the 13th-century holy metropolitan church of saint demetrius (notice the mismatching recycled stone columns):
then was the monastery of vrontochion, which has many well-preserved frescoes:
next i visited the pantanassa, which is a 15th-century church synthesizing gothic and byzantine styles. now it serves as an active convent. a cat greeted me outside:
here is one of the black-robed nuns sweeping:
i stopped by a handful of other byzantine churches and structures, and eventually hiked up to the 13th-century frankish fortress at the top of the hill:
as a victory lap, i had a spritely walk down the hill and passed everyone still on their way up. as a second victory lap, i sat in the rental car for 10 minuted with the air conditioning on before departing on the hour-and-a-half drive to monemvasia.
i’ll talk more about monemvasia soon, but for now, i’ll just say its a big rock in the south east of the peloponnese sticking out into the myrtoan sea. theres a small castle village out on the far side of the rock where i’m staying for the night. it has a couple narrow cobbled streets and a number of shops, cafes, and hotels and only a small causeway connects it to the mainland.
here is the walled entrance to the castle town:
and the ottoman gate:
my room for the night has a view over the town and the sea, and i can see the cape malea in the distance. not bad.
i got a pide and greek coffee for late lunch and walked around the small castle town a bit. later, i got a small greek dinner and local wine at another nearby restaurant before calling it a night.
