Mountain Treasures!
That was one long, but satisfying day! I wanted to take Annemarie to a couple of place that our daughter Erin and I visited together in 2003. Each could have been an individual destination as they are a couple of hours apart. However, we are leaving this area tomorrow morning and so we decided to fit both in. And we did…barely.😬
Given it was to be a long day we were up relatively early and off to a place that served us a great breakfast!
Shortly after breakfast we were off on a 45’ drive into the mountains to view the ancient city of Messene.
It’s really quite late here so I’m going to post mostly photos with bits and pieces of commentary.
ongoing.
Messene is a World Heritage Site and if you would like more information please open the link below.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5859/
We then drove on, this time about 125 km to the spectacular Byzantium site at Mystras, another WHO site. It’s quite spectacular! If you are interested in learning more about Mystras I’ve put a link in below. I just don’t have time or energy tonight!😅
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/511/
This is truly an incredible place to visit, but beware, to wander here requires some effort! There is considerable climbing and descending involved.
Before tackling the place we stopped in a nearby town for lunch. One can spend 3-4 hours at Mystras so we decided to fuel up. We are still significantly jet lagged!😆
And when we felt ready, we drove up to the site and got started.
Mystra was the last stronghold after Constantinople and the rest of the Byzantine empire was overrun. There are some 20+ Byzantine churches and structures on the site. Many are in excellent condition and have been restored very well complete with frescos painted on their inside walls. One of the churches with a supporting settlement is still occupied by nuns.
Above all the temples and the ancient city, a palace newly restored looks out across the wide valley and the surrounding mountains. This wasn’t open when I last visited in 2003, so it was a real pleasure to see it. They have completed an excellent restoration!
We parted ways at this point for a time. Annemarie with a troublesome leg injury decided to begin the descent and would wait for me at a crossroads which would take us into another part of the city before descending back to the car park. I wanted to see the castle as Erin and I had not had time during our prior visit. As a matter of fact, I don’t think the castle was accessible at that time.
I reconnected with Annemarie on the way down. and we took time to visit the nunnery. We actually interacted with one of the nuns briefly. I would have loved to take her picture as she was an older woman with a lifetime of living etched on her smiling face.
We eventually managed to find our way down the side of the mountain where we thankfully found our little car sitting in the shade. After the rush of the day, I was beginning to feel the jet lag again, but we managed to safely drive the 130 km back to Kalamata. We arrived at about 6p.m, and after a very welcome shower, we found our way out for a suitably late Greek dinner.
We move on tomorrow. with plans to cross to the east side of the Peloponnese Peninsula at a much slower pace. We plan to stop somewhere along the way for our first swim in the Mediterranean and see what we see along the way.
Good night!
Geoff🍻
