Monemvasia

Tuesday, May 7

Monemvasia rises at the end of a short causeway from the small Peloponnese mainland town of Gefyra; “Monemvasia” means “single entry” and the causeway is just that, the only way onto
“The Rock.”  To be perfectly honest, though, our first impression of the only entry possible was – UP!  The Castle and Upper Town seemed impossibly high as we drove across the causeway and found a parking spot on the road leading up to the main gate. 

   

The narrow cobblestoned main street of the Lower Town runs uphill and is lined with shops, cafés, small inns, and restaurants and it immediately reminded us of Mont St. Michel in France.  Soon, though, we began to uncover the unique qualities of Monemvasia.

We reached the town’s main square, named Platei Dsami – or “Mosque Square” in recognition of the settlement’s period of Ottoman rule.  The square is, lovely with a Byzantine (then Venetian) church, bell tower, bishop’s house, and views to the sea and the Upper Town.  The former mosque is currently a small archeology museum.  As we sat enjoying the sunny square, we saw workmen removing debris from ongoing renovation projects along the main street.  Given the logistics of the vertical town, with its narrow pedestrian lanes, all the material was being carried out in wheelbarrows or loaded onto pack horses. Throughout the day, we saw the hardworking men weaving their way down from their project sites to the main gate.  In addition to these physical challenges, the fact that Monemvasia is a protected site imposes significant restrictions on what can be done and how renovations take place.  Nevertheless, throughout the day we saw restoration work going on at various places in the Lower Town.

We continued to wander around the Lower Town, down to the walls along the sea, to other squares and small churches in various states of repair and disrepair.  There were arched passageways lots of ups and downs and twists and turns along the way and it was all just lovely.  Of course, looming above us the entire time was the Upper Town, fortress, and the looming question – “Would we do it?”

And, of course, we did!  The zigzagging path to the top of the Rock took us past abandoned houses, small churches, lovely courtyard homes, and works-in-progress in the Lower Town and then it was just walled paths paved with very slick rocks, lots of sun and little shade as we made our way to the Upper Town.  It was not exactly a walk in the park, but the rewards were great.

We were glad that we’d brought along our picnic lunch; it was one of the carrots that got us to the top of the Rock.  Truly, there was a whole bunch of carrots – the views, the chance to wander among the ruins, the views, the walk along the fortress walls, the views, the flowers, the views, the beautiful Byzantine Church of Agia Sophia atop a sheer cliff, and – oh, yes – the views!  The blue of the sea far below was matched by that of the sky above and around us; it was really hard to leave, and not simply because we had to pick our way down on the slippery rocks just as carefully as we’d done on our way up.  We left Monemvasia with new memories, and a bit of pride in our having made it up AND down!

Before we returned to our house in Mystras, we stopped in neighboring Sparta, hoping to see what little is left of that ancient city.  Sadly, nothing remains of the warrior Sparta of the 6^th and 5^th centuries BC, but we had hoped to see the Roman ruins on a small site near the center of town that is, unfortunately, closed on Tuesdays.  So, home it was, for happy hour, dinner and to pack up and prepare to move on to Delphi tomorrow.