Byzantion Lakonia Mystras

Lovely, adorable, cute & cuddly, furry purries. Whatever you may call them - they’re everywhere! I’ve noticed a significant increase of cats since arriving in Greece. They seem to like to congregate at the campgrounds (where I saw a foolish, foolish woman buy cat food to give them!).

Now I’m a cat lover and cat owner, but enough is enough! At every campground there has not been just one or two ...

... bread, or go to a restaurant and have slovaki or something else.

Then it’s on the road again, The last few days it’s been amazing to see how the land is changing. No longer lush, it’s rather barren and rocky. Olive trees are almost the only vegetation springing out of rocky-terraced hills. Then seem to be growing sideways, but it’s only because of the slope of the land. Huge rock faces and deep gorges ...

... in the Alps of Normandy (excluding that one 18% grade in the Pyrenees), but I pushed today!

Rising 500m was nothing in comparison to some of these peaks (1800-2200), but that’s still ˝ kilometer vertical. Some of these roads have a difficult pitch, but thankfully the roads are quieter now. It’s no wonder that these lands were traditionally traversed by foot and donkey - they are much ...

I’ve reconsidered. I don’t think we’d want to be here cycling in the heat of the summer. The sun and 17 degrees is hard enough for me today. Heading out of Finikounta, we traversed the first of the mountain ranges and it was quite tough. If it was any hotter, I think I’d die. Perhaps there is a reason why we’re here in November.

Getting to the top, there were amazing views of the ...

... engine when required - but at the time I didn't understand this at all and felt the need to move the van downhill into some shade just in case while we explored a bit. We then forged uphill between the two fenced-off ancient enclosures, and then around and up some impressive old terracing towards the height of the hill. In the end we found two sections of shaped masonry - one looked more medieval than the other, which was chunkily and ...

29 Oct - The plan today is get up early and head back across the causeway to explore Monemvasia before breakfast and before too many others are doing the same thing. The Lower Town is interesting and gives us a good idea of how cramped the living would have been on this island 1000 years ago. But the most interesting part for us is climbing up the steep narrow winding path to the Upper Town and through the fortifications that surround this top part of Monemvasia. They are still very well ...

been meaning to do our holiday journal for a month now - it's that mad time of year again! Anyway, the title comes from an overheard waiter response in Ierakas, Laconia (where they live up to the name) in response to someone's lament as to the shortness of holidays. Wise words indeed, and ones for us rep-types to keep in mind as we wait for high season to end; still need to give it our all for our peak season customers.

We had a lovely week on ...

We headed up into the heart of the Peloponnese driving near Sparta. Not much remains of ancient Sparta because the building materials were used to build Mystras and other villages. We stopped at the ruins of Mystras located just four miles west of Sparta. This was the most important Byzantine site in Greece. At it's peak there were 2000 houses, 100 ...

Leaving Gythio, we drove through Sparta which is a rather modern city today. Sparta is other times was a well organized systembut they were not considered nice people. They kept people as slaves/serfs. They were well known for their disiplined military activity. We also visited the ancient site of Mystras. This is the most important Byzantine site in Greece. The Roman ...

... myself, otherwise I would have taken only pictures of the countryside. We saw many frescoes in the abandoned churches, their colours still vibrant. In some of them, the faces or at least the eyes of the figures have been scratched out but the rest left intact, save for the damaged wrought by time. A result of Ottoman rule? There is still one building that's still inhabited, a monastery that now functions as a convent. I bought some embroidery from a smiling old nun, though ...