Wednesday 11th May 2011 - Mystras, Greece

We checked the weather on the Internet yesterday and it said that today was going to be overcast with a 60% chance of rain. We had therefore decided to go into Sparta to visit the museum and, if it wasn't raining, a few of the small sites dotted around the city. However, we woke up to blue skies and sunshine – a lovely day. We changed plans and set off for the mediaeval site of Mistras, walking through the village and round the hill that dominates it. Earlier on the trip we had seen a Short-toed Eagle soaring in the thermals but today we went one better, seeing an eagle (not sure which one but darker than the Short-toed) carrying its prey, a long snake hanging from its talons.
The city of Mystras was founded in the 13th century AD following the building of a castle on the summit of the hill in 1249 by the Franks. The Franks were trying to establish sovereignty over the whole of the Peloponnese and this castle was an important part of their plan. People abandoned the ancient city of Sparta and moved to Mystras which became the most important city and the centre of learning and the arts in the mediaeval Morea (the Peloponnese). But it was always under threat and in its history it was ruled for many years by a series of Despots before being attacked, conquered by or surrendered to the Byzantines, the Slavs, the Turks (for many years), Venetians, Spanish, Italians from Rimini, rebelling Greeks, the Albanians and even (briefly after the Greek War of Independence) the Egyptians.
The city is unusual in that it is built on the steep hill crowned by the castle although it often spread outside its defensive walls and onto the plain below with the residents retreating to the fortified areas during times of threat. At its peak in the late 17th, early 18th centuries there were 42,000 inhabitants. The city on the hill was finally abandoned in 1831 when King Otto re-established Sparta and the population moved there or to the modern village of Mystras on the plain below the hill. Ruins are scattered on the hill but it is the churches and monasteries that are the best preserved and the reason why most of the visitors are there. Now declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a huge amount of conservation and reconstruction work has taken place. We first visited Mystras nearly 30 years ago and there are huge changes. Churches that were virtually derelict are now roofed and their walls repaired. The beautiful paintings that were often open to the elements have been restored and protected. We spent over three hours walking over the site before heading back to the campsite, passing an interesting dead snake and a large live one on the way back.
Photos: The ruins of Mystras cling to the hillside below the castle; The Monastery of Peribleptos built into the rock; Looking down to The Metropolis from the Pantanassa Monastery which is still an active monastery; The pulpit (?) high up in the Metropolis church.