Monemvasia

Monemvasia the Gibraltor of Greece, view from our room

As we drove into Monemvasia we were surprised at how small this little seaside resort is. We drove the waterfront and as we returned a woman who was on her front balcony motioned to us if we needed a room. We waved and came over, she showed us a front room with a view of the ancient Monemvasia and we took this place not even looking further for the selection we had made through research. We can’t gove you the names of many of these places because we don’t have access to a Greek alphabet to spell them.
Here we shared the place with an Italian riding a Varadero 1000 and some Germans who want to ride but are afraid, so they tent instead (??). You can see both our bikes in the above picture. Town’s name comes from Moni (Single) Emvasia (entrance) Its upper town was founded in 6th Century by refugees fleeing Slavic raids into the Peloponnese and this area of the fortress is now being refurbished, quite well, into boutique hotels. We saw some of the rooms, and they are so secluded and quiet it would be incredible to stay there and be housed in this secured place.

Harbor Fortress in Napflion

Next onto Nafplion, the first capital of Greece before Athens. Napflion is located at the delta of two peninsula’s about 50 kms away from Sparta. We took the Monemvasis to Sparta road to go up the one peninsula then crossed an amazing mountain range before descending into Napflion. One thing about these peninsula roads they are slippery since whatever they use wears off and all that’s left is slippery marble type rocks. You have to be very careful descending these hairpins turns.


Once in Napflion we drove into Syntagma (Constitution) Square to see the Palamidi fortress perched on top of the mountain there. This was the centre of the Mycenaean people and the harbor and mountain fortresses are amazing. This is a fertile valley and was something to defend back in ancient times. Of course the fortress here is a WHS as well and is accessed by hiking up 999 steps to it. I felt pretty good when I passed a Polish marathon participant  and later when talking with him noticed I  had heart rate recovery far faster than him. And he is in his 40’s.

999 Steps Really!

Water cistern

This is an amazing place to visit, and a must for anyone visiting the peninsula. Besides Burg Eltz in Germany, which is the most intact castles in all of Europe, Napflion is the most intact fortress of its day in all the World.

Farm Protest, Nobody's happy

But wait we aren’t finished yet. As we had entered the town square there was a lot of shouting and banners being raised, then on the climb up we could hear chats and noise from down below. In the town square a demonstration was now taking place. When we finished our tour we walked down past it and found it to be farmers unhappy with what is happening in Greece. This is a country of much unrest at the moment, but not for travellers, just people upset with finding themselves in ths economic crunch.

Perfect Acoustics

Again we aren’t finished yet. We decide since it’s a beautiful afternoon and ancient Epidavros is only 30 kms away we’d head there to see the most intact theatre of the ancient world. Here we saw the best preserved acoustically perfect ancient theatre constructed around 360 BC that houses 20000 people. Imagine back that far before Christ to a civilization that was that far advanced that it could construct a acoustically perfect theatre that required no amplification and held theatre performances. It was truly amazing. Today the theatre again does both ancient and modern theatre performances. One of note that Sandra saw was Kevin Spacey in Richard the 3rd, a Shakespearean play, July 26th, 2011.

People test out acoustics by clapping lightly

OK, now we are drained, 2 days of sightseeing stuffed into one energetic effort, so we head off to the new townsite of Epidaurus to find a hotel. There we find the Hotel Saronis which we write about next.