In the morning we woke up in our ancient castle rooms pictured from inside and outside above. The older girls had their own room around the corner with a view of the sea. Then we went down to the cafe below for breakfast, and then headed up to the top of the city to see the church and views up there.
This is Clarissa and Mary attempting to shoot Abe and Ammon with the cannon. Abe, Ammon and Clarissa were the most entertained by this game. As you can see, in this photo they have made their mark and Abe has fallen dramatically while Ammon attempts to defend him from the cannonball.
The upper castle in Monemvasia, which housed the royalty and aristocracy, is all in ruins. The lower castle, which was reserved for the workers, is the part we stayed in. The way to the top involved climbing a lot of picturesque (if very slick and cobbled) stairs. I probably re-tweaked my ankle half a dozen times, but it was worth it.
Here the Lydia and Mary are doing the dance they created and Clarissa is following along.In some ruins in the upper castle.
It was very very windy, as Abe captured in this video. The wind howled all last night too.This is the ancient church on top of the castle.On our way walking back to our car Abe suggested we check out the tide pools. They found crabs in the pools. (Also, I think Ammon is about to stomp on Mary’s foot in this photo.) I wanted to swim in the water so badly! I was standing on a tiny cement dock with a ladder down to a protected small bay in the sea. I dipped my foot in and the water was still warm, despite the wind. Next time!Abe took this on our way from the castle to our car.Abe taunted Poseidon for a good twenty minutes while giant waves crashed in front of them. They look small and diminished by the photo, but in actuality the waves were large, loud and very exciting.
MYSTRAS
The entrance to Mystras, an ancient Byzantine city and now UNESCO World Heritage site, is pictured above.
We visited Mystras by happy, happy accident. I thought Mystras was the ancient city of Sparta, but it turns out that is buried underneath the new city of Sparta on the plains below Mystras. Mystras is a Byzantine city and perhaps the largest and best city ruins I have ever seen. You could easily spend a half or whole day just wandering the ruins, which span underneath the palace ruins on the cliffs even higher up.
The lower ruins wrap around this hill and go all the way up to the castle.Inside the myriad church ruins there are still, amazingly, remnants of ancient frescoes.Below these there were candles lit at an altar. The candles glow up the frescoes. I could just imagine the power this imagery, lighting, and architecture had on the people who used these churches for worship during the Byzantine era. Picturesque ruins.Clarissa in front of one of the churches.The kids played tag and hide and seek in the ruins. I put a stop to it because out of sight of this photo there are sheer drop offs nearby.
Here the kids are playing telephoneAbe entertained the kids by sending them on missions to complete various tasks. Their last task was to sneak up and then surprise me with a group hug.We drove up to the palace after and then took turns going to see it.
Back in Nafplion
We headed back to Nafplion for dinner. I have read gastronome types rave about fresh sardines on multiple occasions but have never found fresh sardines anywhere. They served them here! The bones are really tricky but the fish is so yummy. Abe said it was his favorite thing at dinner.
