Thursday 1st May 2008

Approaching Monemvasia from the north as we did yesterday is particularly impressive. A huge unassailable cliff rises from the sea and the island is joined to the mainland by a narrow strip of land and a bridge. The only sign of occupation is the remains of a castle on the top and it is very difficult to believe that over 40,000 people once lived on the island. Approaching from the south as we were today is it possible to see houses crowded into a small area of low land at the far end of the island between the sea and the sheer cliffs.
It is thought that the first people to settle here were the Minoans but the decisive moment in its history was 375 AD when a huge earthquake separated Monemvasia from the mainland leaving just that spit of land. This created the potential for a settlement with incredible natural defences and as we approached today we could really appreciate those qualities. We parked on the island side of the bridge and started the long walk along the narrow strip of low land on the southern side. Towering above us all of the time was that massive cliff and if we were attempting to invade the island we would have been open to constant attack from above as well having to face the defenders in front of us. We then reached the gate to the lower town surrounded by defensive walls. Should this lower town be overrun, the inhabitants could retreat to the upper town, a very large area at the top of those cliffs. The only way up to the upper town was through the lower town and up a winding path through a series of walls. The name Monemvasia means 'one entrance' (moni emvasis) and this made it almost impossible to conquer by force. The defensive weaknesses of the island were food, which had to be brought from the mainland and the lack of springs and, for this reason, every building in the lower and upper towns had a huge cistern in the basement to store water. These made the difference between life and death for the inhabitants in times of attack. The island overlooked the main shipping channel to the Bosphorus and this combined with its defensive capabilities lead to the creation of a wealthy merchant city. It also meant that it was an attractive prize for foreign powers and, despite its apparent security, it was attacked by a succession of invaders. The town of Monemvasia was founded by the Byzantines in 585 AD and was attacked in the 800s by the Saracens (failed); Normans in 1147 (failed); Franks in 1246 (succeeded after a 3 year siege but handed back to the Greeks 14 years later); Venice in 1464 by invitation in order to prevent the Turks, who already controlled much of this area of Greece, from taking the island; the Turks in 1537 when Venice handed Monemvasia to them as part of a treaty (at this point many inhabitants left for Crete and Santorini); the Venetians (again) in 1690; the Turks in 1715 (surrendered without resistance). In 1821 in the war of independence against the Turks, after a four month siege, Monemvasia became the first fortress to be taken by the Greeks. Definitely a chequered history!
When we last visited Monemvasia, at least 15 years ago, I remember the lower town being mainly ruins with only a relatively few occupied houses and a couple of very expensive hotels. It was a major tourist attraction even then but a huge amount of restoration has been done in the intervening period. There are very few ruins left and many of those are in the process of being restored. It will be interesting, when we get home, to compare today's photographs with the slides that I took on our last visit.
The upper town (the kastro) remains ruins but this time, so covered in wild flowers and bushes, it was difficult to see any buildings with only low level remains. It was still obvious that there was a large settlement here spanning hundreds of years including a Turkish bath, massive public cisterns and, of course, the castle itself. The only complete building was the church of Christos Elkomenos (the 'dragged Christ'), built originally in the 11th century but rebuilt and repaired over the years. The views from the kastro are magnificent and the view down from the main gate over the labyrinthine route from the lower town emphasised the difficulty faced by any invader attempting to storm the upper town.
It was another hot day and we were glad to return to the lower town and find a restaurant with a view over the sea and to the mainland where we had camped last night. A Greek salad and tzatziki (quite delicious and very heavy on the garlic) with ice-cold drinks went down very well.
May the first is a national holiday in Greece and it is traditional to collect wild flowers to create a wreath which is then hung on the door of the house. We saw many people collecting wild flowers, bunches of flowers under car windscreen wipers, wreaths on doors and even women with flowers in their hair. The wild flowers were lovely and there were certainly plenty around even after the picking!
We then headed off to our next destination of Gythio, almost due west on the next prong of the southern Peloponnese. On the way we stopped to buy a large net of oranges from a roadside seller and I promised to make some fresh orange juice over the next few days. We also stopped at a modern church, built in the 1960s with beautiful frescos added in the 1980s. The frescos covered the whole of the inside of the building and is was good to see such high quality painting done in traditional style.
This time we had no problem in locating a campsite as there were three to choose from and, as the weather was still very good, we decided to barbecue the souvlaki that we bought yesterday – delicious.
Photos: Monemvasia as seen from the north; A view from the gate into the upper town showing the approach from the lower town; The church of Panagia Chrysaphitissa in the lower town – the small white building to the right houses the sacred spring, unfortunately found to be brackish but we still saw some people tasting the water; The church of Agios Niktrarious in Sykeas; An example of the frescos in the church.