Monemvasia

 What is Monemvasia? It is this massive rock settlement back in the Byzantine days where they were hold up as were the others in Mystra. There is this fortification on top, with Byzantine churches, now all in ruins and a village at the base which is still in use. The village is now a tangled maze of restaurants, souvenir shops and restored houses, the holiday villas of rich city folks. Unlike Mystra, which is now a museum, Monemvasia is still being lived in. There is a causeway that link the new town with this village. We took the bus from Sparta but weren't informed of the need to change buses because of the language barrier. We almost didn't make it here. We did make our change by the grace of God but it cut into the time we have to spend here. It was too short but we made the most of it. So when the bus finally dropped us off just before the causeway, we had to walk to the village. From where we were we couldn't tell how far we had to walk. So I decided to stick my thumb out to hitch. I've never hitched before. A lady in a truck stopped for us and took us right to the front of the village. Bless her heart.

The wind was just whipping up and the waves was crashing up the causeway. It was so wild. How in the world can anyone live here. The streets were a mess of twisted paths and it was an amazing maze. We weren't sure if we wanted to go all the way to the top of the rock. It was a windy way of switchbacks going steeply upwards. There were a lot of restored houses for sale but we could hear the rattling of some loose window casements. It'll probably drive me crazy if something in the house should come loose. The wind is constant but it was so beautiful. High above are the ruins of churches, buildings and fortifications. It was so overgrown with weeds and wild flowers and so amazingly beautiful. The view from on top was so spectacular. Sometimes I wonder how in the world do I end up in these spectacular places so far off the beaten track.