Mystras/Sparti (July 15)

The 6:45 alarm rang right on schedule and it was up and at ‘em for another day. This time we had a two hour bus ride to Sparti, so everyone slept, but of course we were woken up by Demetra’s voice over the loud speaker with twenty minutes to go. She gave us a brief intro to the site we were about to see.

Sparta was the other big city alongside Athens back in the classical period around 400 B.C. After Sparta collapsed, it was replaced by Mystras, which fell to the Byzantine in the late 1200s. So the ruins are of the Byzantine city inhabited by 42,000 people in the 15th century.

Granted we were still walking around and being lectured amongst a lot of rocks … it was far more interesting than yesterday. There was a cathedral and monastery, both with beautiful frescoes painted on the walls. The despot’s palace is huge and architecturally gorgeous, but under a lot of reconstruction. My favorite part was the convent of Pantanassa, where six nuns still live today. One of them, who had lived there for 44 years, gave us Turkish delight and showed us a selection of hand-embroidered table cloths that they sell to support the convent. She was very sweet. The Greeks in general are very hospitable.

It was very hot outside – 104 degrees to be exact – and lots of walking along the hills, but overall a pretty enjoyable day. It was cool to see ancient Sparta; now I want to see the movie 300 when I get home. So then the bus picked us up and took us to the small village at the bottom of the ruins where there are only a few tavernas. We had some lunch (Greek salad again, obviously) and got ice cream, then drove the two hours back to Nafplio.

A few of us got dropped off in town and went to an internet café. It was pretty nice, with 50-some computers and big, comfy chairs. I found it relaxing to just sit there for an hour. We caught a cab back to the hotel for one euro each. I laid out by the pool for a little while then got cleaned up and had dinner. Niki and Demetra were at our table. Demetra is such a nice lady even though some of her lectures are boring. But I get it, that’s her job. Apparently she does tours non-stop every week from March to November, so lives in hotels. She’s not allowed to be married and has no family or schedule of her own. Ugh, but the job pays very well according to our professor. He says she makes equivalent to $20,000 a year, which is a lot in Greece. Interesting.

Afterwards, we packed up and just hung out in the courtyard drinking wine. Later when most people had gone in, three of us sat down with our professor and the staff assistant by the pool over more wine. What a class … when you can have a drink with your professor!? It was pretty funny.

At 12:30 I tried calling home again and this being my 11th time – mom finally answered! So I didn’t get to bed until 1 AM.

I think I have a new idea for a photo-journal theme. Since Katula didn’t seem crazy about my beach idea, I now have a back-up : arches. They’re everywhere and I love taking pictures of them or of scenery through them. I think I took 100 pictures of just arches today.