PeloPonnese
L A K O N I A
PeloPonnese
GET TING
T
HE
rE & AWAY
PeloPonnese
MONEMVASIA
oTraditional Guesthouse
Mazaraki GuESTHOuSE €€
(%27310 20414; http://www.xenonasmazaraki.gr; Pouk-oulianika; d/ste incl breakfast €95/125; pW) (^) S
By far the most original accommodation for
miles around, Mazaraki consists of three
beautiful houses divided into individually
decorated studios and apartments. Break-
fast arrives on your doorstep in a basket,
with produce from the owners’ organic
farm. The welcoming owners are happy to
advise about hiking and biking in the area
(and to lend you mountain bikes).
Taverna Pikoulianika GrEEK €
(%27310 82403; Poukoulianika; mains €5-9;
hlunch & dinner) The convivial owner wel-
comes you on the terrace with delicious,
homemade meatballs, garlicky aubergine
‘caviar’, rabbit stew and other classic dishes.
You may get a hefty slice of drizzle cake on
the house even if you don’t order dessert.
8 Getting There & Away
from Sparta, buses run to Mystras (€1.60, 15
minutes) daily at 7am, noon and 4pm; return
trips depart around 7.15am, 12.15pm and
4.15pm. A taxi between Sparta and Mystras
costs around €10.
Monemvasia Μονεμβασιά
Surrounded by the teal waters of the Aegean
Sea, vast, imposing Monemvasia (moh-nem-
vah-sia) is an iceberg-like slab of rock, with
sheer cliffs rising hundreds of metres from
the sea, linked to the mainland by a single,
highly defendable causeway.
These days Monemvasia incorporates
both the rock, with its medieval village en-
closed within the walls of its kastro (fort),
and the modern mainland village of Ge-
fyra, just across the causeway. ‘You can find
everything you want in this city – except
water’, observed an 18th-century Turkish
traveller. Remarkably – given that for most
of its existence Monemvasia’s only source of
drinking water came from the sky – Monem-
vasia has remained inhabited to this day,
unlike its Byzantine contemporary, Mystras.
Only 12 people live in the kastro permanent-
ly, however; the rest go home to Gefyra after
a day’s work. In spite of Monemvasia’s im-
mense popularity, the extraordinary visual
impact of the medieval village – and the de-
lights of exploring it – override the effects of
mass tourism in summer.
Cross the causeway and follow the curv-
ing road that skirts the cliff to the official
entrance, a narrow tunnel in a massive for-
tifying wall. The tunnel is L-shaped, so the
magical town is concealed until you emerge
on the other side.
History
The rock island of Monemvasia was part
of the mainland until it was cut off by an
earthquake in AD 375. Its name means ‘sin-
gle entry’ (moni – single, emvasia – entry),
as there is only one way into the town.
During the 6th century, barbarian incur-
sions forced inhabitants of the surrounding
area to retreat to this natural rock fortress,
where they founded the upper town that
eventually spread downwards. By the 13th
century, if Mystras was the spiritual centre
of the Byzantine Empire, then Monemvasia
was one of its biggest trade centres. It was
famous throughout Europe for its highly
praised malvasia-grape Malmsey wine;
George, Duke of Clarence, in Shakespeare’s
Richard III, drowned in a barrel of the stuff.
Monemvasia changed hands several
times as the Franks, Venetians and Ottoman
Turks all invaded in the following centu-
LANGADA PASS ΟΡΕΙΝΗ ΔΙΑΒΑΣΗ ΛΑΓΚΑΔΑ
If you have time and your own wheels, the 59km Sparta–Kalamata road is one of the
most stunning, if time consuming and winding, routes in Greece. The road crosses the
Taÿgetos Mountains by way of the Langada Pass.
The climb begins in earnest at the village of Tr ypi, 9km west of Sparta, where the road
enters the dramatic Langada Gorge. To the north of this gorge is the site where the
ancient Spartans left to die those babies too weak or deformed to become good soldiers.
The road then follows the course of the Langada River before climbing sharply through
a series of hairpin bends, fringed with plane trees and pines, to emerge in a sheltered val-
ley. This is a good spot to stop for a stroll among the plane trees along the riverbank. The
road then climbs steeply once more, to the high point of 1524m, crossing the boundary
from Lakonia into Messinia on the way. The descent to Kalamata is equally dramatic.