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| Ruins of Mystras, Greece |
Admittedly when we saw a place called Gythion,
Greece on our itinerary, it was not one of our “must see” ports at all.
Not only that, but it was a tender port and naturally we prefer a dock so we
can come and go as we please rather than having to wait to tender back and
forth. So when we woke up to heavy overcast and with some flashes of
lightning and claps of thunder, I almost wished the Captain would say it was
too dangerous to tender and we would have to skip the port. Am I ever
glad my wish was not fulfilled! It was a wonderful stop and everyone
agreed that it was it was a great place to visit.
The options for tours here were very
limited: one went to visit the Diros Caves which I knew nothing about,
and the other visited the ruins of an ancient mountainside village
Mystras on the lower slopes of Mt. Taygetos. From the descriptions,
we knew Barb could do neither of them, so I opted for the latter excursion, Sparta
& Mystras. It was a good choice; in fact an excellent
one.
The port of Gythion is on the southwestern
Peloponnesian Peninsula of Greece, so it’s on mainland Greece rather than one
of the main islands of Greece. Its most historical claim to fame is that
it was where Sparta once vied with Athens for dominance in Greece during ancient
times. Most will remember from history that most of the cultural
contributions from Greece had come from Athens and that Sparta had more of a
military emphasis and was, well, more spartan in appearance. Gythion and
Sparta today are in Laconia (from which the English word, “laconic” is
derived), the Greek equivalent of one of our states. As we drove toward
Mystras, we had about an hour’s drive through lush green scenery and the snow
capped Mt. Taygetos. Interestingly though as I looked out the window on
my side, the sky was blue giving the opportunity for great pictures. But
the sky was still overcast and black on the other side.
In ancient times Sparta vied with Athens among
the city-states for domination and was an area that had many ties to Greek gods
and goddesses. The original Spartans lived in barracks and led an austere
life. Military authority was predominant there and interest in
architecture, monuments, and the “good life” had virtually no place. Unlike
Athens, there is virtually nothing surviving from the ancient Spartans.
Our guide explained that Spartans preferred to wage military campaigns close to
home where they knew the terrain while Athens was partial to preserving its
culture and fighting wars away from Athens. We drove though Sparta on the way
to our major destination, Mystras. This turned out to be one of my
previously undiscovered jewels of the entire cruise.
Mystras was built on the slopes of Mt.Taygetos
and despite the fact that it was on the lower slopes, it was still plenty high
when we consider that the people in the 13th century that lived there had to go
up and down the steep slopes in the conduct of their daily activities.
The town had been a walled town and was built as a fortress in 1249, and when
the Byzantines established rule there in 1262, Mystras was a mainstay of the
Byzantine Empire through the mid 15th century. It was a brilliant period
for this medieval fortress-state. Thus what we visited was not part of
the achievements of ancient Sparta, but was many centuries later. The two
cultures just happened to occur in the same geographic area. Mystras had
been filled with homes, mansions, and churches and was densely populated at the
time. Surprisingly it was inhabited until 1953 when the last of the permanent
residents moved from Mystras. Because Mystras was so widely respected at the
time, it flourished and represented a close link with Constantinople in terms
of culture and the arts – quite a contrast with the ancient
Spartans.
When we arrived at Mystras, our guide said she
would provide a walking tour for about an hour or a little more of our two hour
visit and then we would have time to explore the area on our own. She
said people would be free to break away from the group to explore on their own as
long as everyone returned to the bus for our 11 AM departure. As soon as
we began our climb over the uneven stone steps, we realized we were in a place
of exceptional beauty. While most of the buildings were ruins, they had
been tastefully maintained with Mystras being another of
the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The beautiful springtime flowers were in
full bloom. There were no formal gardens, just the beautiful wildflowers
in their reds, violets, blues, yellows, and whites on the ground, between the
stones, and on vines on the ruins. Bees could be heard buzzing as they
were having the proverbial “field day” with all the flowers. One person
on our tour correctly said that she loved to travel to Europe at this time
of year because it is so lush and green with the trees’ buds having come out
recently and the wildflowers in profusion.
I stayed with the guide for a few minutes, but
like about half of our group, somehow we lost her as we stopped to take
advantage of all the photo opportunities. We assumed we’d catch up with
her but suddenly we came upon a fork in the path up the mountain and could hear
no voices so we weren’t sure where we were. The young ship escort from
Holland America said she’d run down and see if we had passed the guide.
Sure enough, they had gone into one of the buildings on the grounds and she was
explaining one of the churches to that part of the group. Some went down
to rejoin her while a few others waited. She hadn’t come up with the
group within a few minutes, so I decided I would set out on my own but after a
few minutes of seeing absolutely no one, I decided it wasn’t a wise idea to
keep going into an area where there wasn’t a soul around. While it’s a beautiful
place, I didn’t want to be left behind. Not to worry, a few minutes later
I saw someone from another bus and then someone sporting a sticker from the
same bus I was on. Almost immediately we saw our guide leading the group
not far ahead and got to hear her description of the monastery with its ornate
walls and beautiful architecture. It was after her explanation there that
we were given 45 minutes to explore on our own. The time passed quickly
as nearly everyone kept snapping pictures of the magnificent treasures –
both architectural and scenic. I should comment that being on a
mountainside, we saw the panorama of the countryside and villages below
us. Every single person I talked with had never heard of Mystras, and
every single person was “wowed” by the unexpected gem of a place to
visit. We had made an excellent selection of shore excursions
today. It’s a good thing most cameras are digital today or people would
have spent lots of money on film!
When we left Mystras, we went just about 10
minutes back to Sparta, the administrative capital today and a rather
non-descript city of 50,000 people. We made a quick change back to the
time of the ancient Spartans and had a short stop to see the statue to Leonidas
who had fought the historic Battle of Thermopylae with just 300 Spartan
warriors. From there it was a 45 minute drive back to the pier at Gythion
where we noticed that the sun was out but there was evidence of rain on the
streets and in puddles. I decided that I would spend a few minutes in
town before tendering back to the ship. It is a beautiful little village
with lots of restaurants including many seaside cafes. Some of
the owners were putting cushions back on seats of their outdoor
cafes. I seemed to see only restaurants and a few hotels. I came across
exactly one souvenir shop which was highly unusual. It suggested to me
that tourism had not caught on in large part in this part of Greece
yet. I saw no souvenir shop at Mystras, though they had a high end museum
shop there, no souvenir shop near the Leonidas statue in Sparta and exactly one
in Gythion. For the quality of Mystras, I noticed that the cost of
admission for adults was just five Euros! Our three buses from Holland
America seemed to be the only tourists there on a Sunday morning. Of
course, though, this is very early in the tourist season. May through
October is considered to be when most tourists visit Greece.
Barb and Alice took the tender into Gythion for
a short time in the morning and enjoyed seeing the fishing boats, restaurants
and the waterfront of this pleasant and unspoiled Greek village. She was
amazed at the number of places that had octopus tentacles hanging out to dry
and then discovered that octopus is one of the mainstays of local cuisine. Barb will be doing a shore excursion in Crete
tomorrow and wanted to save her energy for that visit but both of us are
enjoying visiting new places in Greece. Every Greek port so far is a new
adventure for both of us.
Having never been to this part of Greece, I can
now highly recommend it to those who have visited Athens and the other
well-known Greek Islands. I would say it is a nearly undiscovered jewel
for visitors to Greece. In that respect it reminds me a lot of the beauty
of Wales which far too many skip in their trips to the United Kingdom!
This was a great day!
CT
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