Monemvasia: Conquering the Rock

Friday evening June 2 & Saturday June 3

Days 7 and 8 of our tour 

Arriving in Monemvasia's new town around 6, Mary and I couldn't wait to see the Old Town on a most amazing rock in the sea! Rather than finding a restaurant or relaxing at the hotel, we women of action set out for some exploring in the Old Town.

The "new town" with our hotel on the hill is on the left in this map. We crossed the causeway to reach the Old Town on the lower slope of the big rock (marked by the pin and random hotel).

We enjoyed strolling up the curving road along the north-western shore (on the right side in this picture) to the gate of the Old Town.

There wasn't a lot of room between us and the drivers flying up and down the road. 

Don't say Rick Steves didn't warn us to be careful because he did.

We browsed through an interesting modern cemetery along the way.

Evening at Monemvasia: the Lower Town

Reaching the western gate, we studied this map of the island. Or peninsula.

Exploring the Old Town reminded me of Carcassonne, with narrow medieval lanes, stone and stuccoed walls, pathways, little shops, red tiled roofs, lots of narrow stairways, and ruins mixed in, along with flowers growing everywhere.

Eventually we reached the eastern end of the town where we could clearly see the eastern wall. 

So of course we had to climb to the top.

Someone had carefully installed fences to catch rocks breaking off from above before they could crash into anything important below.

The Old Town from the eastern wall. I like to call this flower (?) a radio antenna.

To prolong our evening on Monemvasia, we settled in at a cocktail bar 

with one of the resident cats and a view of the sea.

Which sea is that, you might be wondering? Well, it depends on the direction you look. To the east it's the Aegean Sea, but right near Monemvasia it's called the Myrtoan Sea. They all contribute to making up the Mediterranean Sea - which has been very quiet and still around Greece so far on our trip.

As for the cat, there are so many cats running around Greece that I'm compiling a separate "Cats of Greece" post for feline fans. Still, some of you might enjoy this cat on a hot tile roof. 

Time to tackle the path to the ruined upper town.

Day 2 at Monemvasia: the Upper Town

It was going to be a Hot. Day.

We joined the group for a short tour of the Old Town with Dafni, but planned to cut and dash for the Top as soon as possible.

A shuttle bus dropped our group at the west gate.

Dafni starting the short tour of the Old Town.

Old Town below, only ruins above.

This ingenious edging around a plaza directs all of the water in one direction. 

Outside the East wall on the way to the lighthouse. 

Staying only long enough for a group picture, Mary and I took off at a fast clip for the upper levels, hoping to reach the top before the day got too hot for humans. 

Thomas and Stephanie caught up with us as we navigated our way up the maze of narrow paths and steps.

We guessed on some left and right turns but managed to find the way to the Upper Town.

Made it! The upper entrance gate.

Oooold door.

Is this the top? Nope - look, there's a church up the hill. Keep going. 

The church was actually in good shape, and was clearly still being used. 

Mary is peeking where her nose doesn't belong.

The old frescoes had taken a beating but were hanging in there.

I love taking pictures of church domes.

Bringing back memories of childhood, I scared Mary 

by getting closer to the edge of the cliff than she was comfortable with.

I was never in any danger. It wasn't even windy up there, but we did appreciate a light breeze. 

The sea was quite a bit farther below than this picture makes it appear.

So have we reached the top yet? Not even close!

Onward and upward.

Now the ruins of the upper town were obvious. Crumbled stone walls, structures barely standing. Dusty, hot and rocky paths. Watch your footing! Watch out for spider webs!

Seriously. Spiders had spun webs across the path to catch travelers like us hobbits.

Mary started to lead the way waving her anti- spider weapon through the path ahead. 

There's the top! We need a break in the shade.

Friends caught up with us and joined Mary exploring the old armory.

While I climbed as high as possible...

We were here.

It was time to start back down, stopping every few minutes to admire another amazing view of the Old Town, the sea, or a different ruin "up top."

Imagine the rich people living on top of this rock. 

Kyle faces his fear of heights.

Heading down was trickier than hiking up. You can sort of see the marble and granite stones on many of the paths in this picture of Kendra and Kyle. 

The smooth, worn stones were much more slippery on the way down!

It was definitely time for a beer. At one of the restaurants in the Old Town, Mary got the popular Greek beer Mythos. I had several waters and a lemonade, plus all the Greek salad we could eat, and there was most likely a glass of wine in there. Exploring is hard work, and hot!

Day 2 Evening: Greek Cooking Class

You would think we had enough adventure for one day, but that's not how a Rick Steves tour works. We actually had to work for our dinner.

Here I joined a few volunteers donning our plastic aprons for Greek cooking class. We were unaware when volunteering that we would have to wear hideous blue nets on our heads.

Hal is the first volunteer, helping our teacher Irena (whose family owns the hotel) make the meat sauce for moussaka. We learned other great recipes like tzaziki sauce and chickpea patties.

Judy and I assembled the baklava in our attractive PPE. We got to eat everything we cooked for dinner, and it was totally worth the humiliation.

The chickpea patties were crunchy and awesome.

And that, my friends, is packing a lot into one travel day.

-  Christine