The Last Emperor

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Need not have worried about the weather, the day dawned bright and sunny (again). Watched the sun light up the castle and the rock above us. Drove up to the entrance gate for an earlyish start - before any tour buses. The site at Mystras is a deserted medieval Byzantine town - although some parts were occupied until quite recently. There are lots of partly ruined and intact houses, churches and monasteries. There is also a large palace complex which is being restored. This part of the Byzantine Empire was lost to the Franks in the middle of the thirteenth century - they built a substantial castle on the top of the rock - and then recovered in the 1260s. It then developed into a centre of learning and administration for the later Empire. It wasn’t lost to the Ottomans until several years after the fall of Constantinople - during the siege of which the last emperor was killed, you can see the place where he was crowned in Mystras. It is quite an evocative place as you wander around looking at the amazing frescoes in the churches and then across the Spartan plain from the citadel.

After about four hours walking up and down and around and lots of photos we went on our way, via some well earned lunch, we headed south-east to Monemvasia. Brief stop to look at the castle at Molia - inaccessible remnants above the town.

Monemvasia is something else - a Greek Gibraltar in geography if not politics. The rock is reached across the causeway, all vehicles have to be left outside the gate to the lower town. We walked in, found our hotel, the Malvasia, and chilled out with a cold drink looking across the blue, blue sea. Had a good dinner with some red mullet which seem to have avoided any EU rules on size of catch…but they did taste good.

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Photos

Monemvasia
No it isn't Gibraltar