We have now left the Mani, and are headed north to the UNESCO site of Mystras, an abandoned medieval town, with nuns! So, not so abandoned really!! Apparently, as tourists, we are allowed to start at the upper gate and have a long downhill walk to the exit.
- K: looking forward to today unesco treat, it looks very inviting and am hoping we get hours to stroll around rather than the 20 min opportunities we had last year! even the church of panagia. 😏. seem like a nice place to sit and sketch. 🎨 🖌 ✏
- H: So did u make the right choice to spend the evening with me demis nana J and zorba rather than the film that looked like as bad as the flash Gordon movie😆.
- K: Well I tried sticking with it, thought it might be a bit mythological but in the end decided it was all a bit greek to me… by the time I got back to the bar you’d all gone to 🛏 😴
- H: 😆 we had a cracking night. Lost J for a bit and found her hiding under demis’ kaftan 😝
- K: in the olive trees.. 😆
- H: Looks like u may have a chance to have better olives today 🙂
- K: 🌟 🌟 I’ve got a shopping slot.. I’ll add olives.. hoorah..got 5 hearty meals out the stifado.. if I’d had more freezer pots I could have prob got 7 reasonable meals.
- H: 😆 and bet your freezer is full!
- K: yep..I squeazed them in
Mystras – the ‘wonder of the Morea’, lies in the southeast of the Peloponnese. A gangly site, clinging to a steep flank of the Taygetos range, some 150 m above the plain, Mystras is silent and ruined today. With its cobbled alleyways, and sun-bleached palaces, wall paintings, mosaics and decorative sculptures.
The town developed down the hillside from the fortress built in 1249 by the prince of Achaia, William II of Villehardouin, at the top of a 620 m high hill overlooking Sparta. The Franks surrendered the castle to the Byzantines in 1262, it was the centre of Byzantine power in southern Greece, first as the base of the military governor and from 1348 as the seat of the Despotate of Morea. Captured by the Turks in 1460, it was occupied thereafter by them and the Venetians.
In the Upper Town is the vast arched hall of the Palace of the Despots, with its two standing towers.
The beautiful Pantanassa Church, still used by a few smiling nuns, combines both Byzantine and Gothic elements and has some rather fine frescoes. Crowning the summit is the original Frankish Castle (Kastro) with its breathtaking overview of the plain of Sparta.
H: Got a feeling of deja vu at mystras. We are becoming experts on Byzantine Frescos 😁
K: looks a bit Armenia Georgia.
- H: Finally we get the room with sea view
- H: Is it more stifado tonight😆
- K: no stifado all frozen, going noodlez
H: Forgot to tell u I got nana to sign her album for me last night 😆
- K: not really a fan. I prefer this, bit more get up and 🕺. and yes I do own it 😂
- H: 😆😅 is that Salvador Dali on the left!
- K: I always think its Gabriel in the white shirt 🕺
- K: bumped into Chris and sue when I went out for an ice cream, haven’t heard from them for ages so was nice to catch up. they’re confined to barracks, but busy with ducks, hedges and bonfires and hoping to catch up with Sharon in a bit. they send their love 😍
- H: 😁 it really is a small world! Am almost expecting to bump into Marion at some point. Glad they are both tip top. When is your shopping delivery? Presumably you have a plane chartered?
- K: yes it’s coming with Stelios..
- K: “Starting an airline with a surname like mine that’s not easily pronounceable wasn’t such an asset in a consumer-oriented business like flying. In the beginning many people used to confuse me with Harry Enfield’s TV character called Stavros, who owned a kebab shop!”
- H: 😆hello peeps! Dont forget we are 2 hours ahead.😁
- K: yes and I thought Stelios did own a kebab 🥙 🏪
- H: Owned a shipping company thanks to his dad giving him £30 million 😯
- H: See J has emerged from demis’ kaftan. She looks worn out😅
We then continued to the delightful little harbour town of Pylos. Discussions are also underway about coming back next May
Zorbas Explorers in the Peloponissos 