borders and byways: October 14, 2107 Monemvassia to Nafplio

October 14, 2017 Day 2 of the cruise and day 13 of the trip Monemvassia to Nafplio

I awoke early after a pretty good night’s sleep and went up to the top deck as the sun was rising. Nice sunrise and the sight of the boat’s wake behind us.

We arrived at Monemvassia at about 7:30. After breakfast we were escorted down the dock to a road. We waited for a public bus, fare 1.1 euro, to take us to the old town, also called Castle Town.

Monemvassia reminded me of a Greek equivalent of France’s Mont St.-Michel. It is a huge fortress like rock that was part of the mainland until an earthquake in 375 AD made it into an island. A causeway connects it to the modern mainland town of Gefyra, into which we did not go. The name means single entry and the limited access as well as the steep sides of the rock make it a formidable fortress, but a shortage of water is its Achilles heel.

This was a Byzantine commercial center for many centuries and was subsequently successfully invaded by the Franks, Venetians and Turks. During the Greek War of Independence, the Turkish inhabitants were massacred after they surrendered following a three-month siege in retaliation for a Turkish massacre. More recently the communist poet Yiannis Ritsos was born here. As we saw in Dubrovnik, today seemingly only a handful of people live in the old town, most inhabitants having moved to the adjacent modern town and rent out their residences. It is a major vacation spot for Greeks. The entire town is surrounded by a large wall.

Entry to the lower, medieval town is through narrow L shaped tunnel that hides the town until you emerge on the other side into a narrow cobble stone street. It is lined with tourist shops, hotels restaurants and bars, inhabited by lots of cats and has winding staircases that lead down to a walkway along the sea and upward to stone houses with walled gardens and courtyards that were hard to peer into. The architecture has Venetian influences. Historically this was the residential area of the working classes.

After a short walk we emerged into a central square that is flanked by two churches and a large bell tower. The square afforded a great ocean view. We left the square and began the walk up to the fortress. It was a winding staircase that passed many pretty homes/hotels and lead up to the upper town. This was historically the residential area of the nobles. Today it is mostly a jumbled cluster of ruins spread across many acres. The Church of Agia Sofia was built in the 13^th century by the Byzantines, and for a period under the Turks was converted into a mosque. It has been restored and is perched on the edge of a cliff. It had several frescoes and expansive views of the lower town and the walls that seem to run into the sea. In the complex at that site there was a ruined Turkish bathhouse and three large cisterns. Many of the house in the upper town were two stories and had their own cistern. Climbing further up you can reach the actual citadel. My spouse seemed to be the only one from our group to climb that far.

The town produces the unique Malvasia grape wine. Overall it is a very visually spectacular town.

Going back down we met our friends for lunch at a restaurant that had a rooftop balcony overlooking the ocean. After lunch some went shopping and I walked along the sea wall and through the town wall until I reached the lighthouse. It is still operating and had a small museum.

We caught the 1:30 bus back to the boat and starting sailing about 2:30. We cruised along the coastline affording a nice view of the lower town and its wall.

We were sailing northwest to Nafplio at the top of the gulf. At about 5:30 we stopped for an ocean swim. We jumped off the back of the boat and many of the passengers enjoyed the swim. The water temperature was pleasant and very clear.

We had dinner on the boat and arrived at Nafplio about 10:00 pm. Towering over us when we docked was the lit up Palamidi fortress, which looked like a giant dragon. My friend and I took a night walk in the town. We stopped for gelato at Antica Gelateria, which we were assured was the best gelato not only in town, but anywhere outside of Italy. There were lots of open and busy restaurants in the areas we walked with lots of good smells.

We got back to the boat about 11:30 and overnighted in port.