Laconia

LACONIA. History. With the settling of the Dorian's in the region (1100 BC). Sparta became the centre of the new colonists. The laws and social structure change. Up till the time of Alexander Sparta and Athens were the most powerful city-states in Greece. In 146 BC, Sparta was subdued by the Romans. During the Byzantine era, Laconia was a province of the Peloponnese and suffered numerous attacks by barbarians. In the 13th century, it fell to the Franks only to return in 1262 to the Byzantines who made their headquarters at Mistra. Two centuries later (1460) the Turks marched against Laconia and finally conquered the district in the mid 17th century. The region of Mani always retained its autonomy and privilege up to a certain point. The area was liberated in 1828.

Laconian Mani

Gerolimenas	Gerolimenas		Mani

A barren land. Rocks, stone walls and prickly pears. Hard stones, naked hillsides. Bays and coves torn by the sea and the wind. Harsh people like stones. Maniots are very proud beings. Every so often at the edge of the sea a small hamlet sprouts up. A series of mountain villages higher up. The towers of Mani are well-known. Made of stone by fearless souls. One tower is built after the other and so on. Absolute silence on the way until Itillo can be remarked. Deserted beaches to walk alone. Opposite stand the ruins of the fortress of Kelefa. Further on, beneath a sleep cliff lies the little harbour of Limeni. High above looms Taigetos, its peaks forbidding and inaccessible. The haunt of the goddess Artemis. Areopolis. A harsh and remote landscape filed with sharp rocks and white stones. It takes its name from Ares (Mars), god of war. Honour and bravery. The courage of the Maniots is legandary. Ancestral glory. It echoes through the cobbled alleys of the city and in the corridors of the Kapetanaki Tower. Pirgos Dirou. There are towers everywhere. The most famous of all is the one belonging to Sklavounakos family. Diros caves. Full of splendid colours. Stalactites and stalagmites form figures in a light embrace. Awe and wonder. Then comes the tiny bay Mezapos, dotted with ruined towers. One looms above them alll from its perch on a high cliff, the ruined castle of Mani, called Maina, which gave its name to the peninsula. Nothing here but stones, prickly pears and a few gnarled olive trees. Gerolimenas. Some houses and a pier filled with alques. A friendly small taverna calls for rest and relaxation, for calm and tranquility. To the north lie the towers of Kita and Nomia. To the south the village of Alika among the prickly pears. Further on the sleep cape of Kiparissos. There used to be a temple to Poseidon there. The oracle and sanctuary of the Laconians and the temples of Demeter and Aphrodite. Still further the little road to Marmari and the cave of Hades. Where the descent to the Underworld began. This is the cavern Orpheus braved in his search for the lost Eurydice. Beyond lies Cape Tenaro or Matapas with its huge lighthouse followed by Porto Kagio, a refuge for quail and storks. (These places. can be toured by Car only with the assistance of a map or else take the more usual route, a ride around the peninsula by caique). The road drives you through wheat fields and olive trees. Through knolls crested with towers. Next the high hilltop of Vathia packed with gray towers. The towers of treasured tradition. Most of them have been restored and transformed into guesthouses by the GNTO. A refuge where peace and quiet reign. In Mani the Cretan influence is pronounced. Many Maniots wear baggy breeches and head bandanas like the Cretans. With their decorated jackets and midriffs tightly swathed by heavy belts, tall and thin with thick moustaches and eyebrows, they seem like heroes out of a fairy tale when you encounter them in the road or in a café. And they have the same habits. They welcome you to their homes with a glass of the same fiery raki, the same preserves and the same cup of coffee. They differ only in their songs and dances. Here the need for comfort from the pain of death gave birth to a unique form of folk poetry, the Maniot moirologia or laments. These are whole poems that are sung at the grave. They remind the lament of Andromache for Hector or the dirge of Hecuba for her lost children as well as of Byzantine threnodies. Kotronas. A place with stone land and stone houses. A traditional village. Ringed by a warm bay. Skoutari, Kalivia, Passavas, Githio (Sparta's port). Boats are lied up along the pier. The broadest of beaches. Houses, shops, taverns. Opposite it lies Marathonisi, no longer an island. Tradition maintains that this is where Paris spent the night with the lovely Helen. Tzanetakis tower stands in the centre of the island. To the north, on a hill, lie the ruins of the ancient acropolis. Githio has a small collection of archaeological and Byzantine artefacts on view in the Town Hall.

Central Laconia
Sparta (Sparti) is the capital of the prefecture. An ordinary town, built in the middle of the Evrotas river valley, in the same site where the ancient city stood. Some ruins remain, those of the ancient acropolis, the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia (6th c. BC), The tomb of Leonidas (5th c. BC) and the Menelaion. The museum with findings from the area is housed in a neoclassical building in the centre of town. The plain of Laconia spreads out around Sparta, green and cool. A few kilometres distant is the ascent for Taigetos. Snowy peaks and precipitous rocks. Plateaus and ravines. Olive graves on the gentler slopes. Poplars, willows and plane trees line the banks of the Evrotas. Gardens of every shade of green. And the series of villages continues. Some drenched in chestnut trees (Anavrito) or enormous plane trees (Karies) or perched in precarious sports - real eagles' nests (Georgitsi). Some boasting castles and Byzantine churches (Geraki, Vresthena, Vrondamas) and others simply bucolic. The succession of villages makes you wander about them and feel like discovering all of them. To walk through this land you must faal love and possess an adventurous spirit.

The Byzantine state of Mistras

Mistras	monastery Mistras	monastery Mistras	Byzantine church
Mistras	Byzantine church	Mistras	Pantanassa monastery
Mistras	Byzantine church	Byzantine church Mistras	Byzantine church Mistras

Approaching Mistras (5 km from Sparta) the visitor feels as though he is making a pilgrimage to Byzantine Greece. Walking uphill, the Castroporta (the castle gate) welcomes him for a walk through the narrow lanes of this once invincible fortress. The castle of Mistras was built by the "Franks in 1249 in their attempt to establish their supremacy over the Peloponnese. Their catastrophic defeat at Pelagonia (1259) forced them to hand over Mistra to the Greeks. The Frankish prince Guillaume de Villehardouin erected the castle. He built bastions for his knights, houses, dungeons, storerooms, court yards. From up there he ruled over the whole Evrotas area. As time went by, houses ware built on the hillside under the Frankish castle, and a town was born whose fate was to become the centre of civilization and the cradle of the last dynasty of the Byzantine emperors. The houses built in a round are of two or three stores. With their imposing vaulted roofs and arcades these mansions lead up to the Palace, an architectural creation of the Palaiologues. The throne room, the chapel with vestiges of Byzantine frescoes, the rooms lighted by large windows with ogival arches, are some of the features of this building the construction of which look place in various periods, according to the style prevailing in Constantinople. During the two centuries that Mistras was the Byzantine capital of the Peloponnese many churches and monasteries with domes and chapels ware erected, representing all the painting trends of the capital. The most important monument on the way up - built before the others - is the Cathedral of Agios Dimitrios. On the floor of the church is the two-headed eagle, symbol of Palaiologos dynasty, carved into a plaque. According to tradition, this is where Konstantinos stepped when he was crowned King. Next to it stands the carved throne. In 1449, Konstantinos Palaiologos was crowned emperor of Byzantium and he left Mistras for Constantinople. In 1453 the Turks captured Constantinople, and a few years later, in 1460, the same fate befell Mistras. Mistras, that used to be the brilliant capital of the Despotate of Morea, was reduced to an insignificant village. The frescoes in the Cathedral show a shining sky which is painted by very skilful hands. One part of the church houses the Museum. Towards the northern corner of the yard stand the two most impressive churches of Mistras', those of Agii Theodori and Panagia Odigitria, known as the Afentiko. Its wall paintings hold you spellbound. Near the Highest gate of the castle stands the church of Agia Sofia, while on the slope to the east is Pantanassa monastery, built by the lords of the 15th century. The church is impressive due to its elegance and fine style. The frescoes are characterized by the bright colours and the motion they exhale. Today Pantanassa is a hospitable convent with clean cells looked after by gentle nuns, the only living beings in Mistras. Strolling through the narrow lanes of the old city, the road leads to Perivlepto, the monastery built under a rock with marvellous frescoes. It is from here that the ascent to the castle begins. Winding stairways, arcades, court yards. Everything in ruins: crumbling facades, turrets with ravaged opening, damaged plaques, decayed mansions. At some point the bare part of the mountain appears. Below is expanded the endless valley. In the front a sleep path leads to the top of the hill. In an impregnable position, its ramparts and fortification impose themselves on the landscape. The security this castle offered from foreign and local enemies was the motive that made its bishops, lords, enlightened clerics, founders of schools of philosophy, monks, artists, writers and other men of intellect, like Pachoumius, Nikephoros Moschopoulos and Gemistos Plethon transform this town, "protected by God", into a cradle of the Renaissance.

South-eastern Laconia
The farthest finger of the Peloponnese. The Laconic gulf on the west, the Mirtoo sea on the east. Along both coasts and at some distance from the sea there are scattered villages. One beach after another and then one more even larger. Everything baked by the sun and basted by the sea. On the southern coast of the peninsula, looking onto the Mirtoo sea, stands the former Byzantine-Venetian fortress-state of Monemvassia, on its rocky promontory. From afar it looks as if it could be an island. In Greek Monemvassia means "one entrance": the long causeway joining it to the mainland was and is the only access to the rock. Time stopped here in the Middle Ages. Castles and ramparts, old mansions, little houses, narrow lanes paved with stone slabs, churches with crumbling facades, old low archways, semi-destroyed stairways. Every little detail calls up memories of Byzantium and the Venetians. Apses, escutcheons, imperial marble thrones, Byzantine icons (Christ in chains) give the impression of an imaginary city, untouched by modern times. This magic of the past make visitors vision of princes and emperors, knights and bishops. For Monemvassia is a revelation that leaves one with a heavy heart and a deep nostalgia, a feeling that one would like to stay here forever. North of Monemvassia the region of Zaraka is full of medieval villages, built high in the mountains alongside ruined castles, churches and houses, with names like Harakas, Rihia, Gerakas, Ag. Dimitris, Glotsoli and Kiparissi. Sixty - one kilometres from Monemvassia across the peninsula lies the seaside market town of Neapolis, the last port of the Spartans on the laconic gulf. Beaches, bays, springs, plane and walnut trees (Paradissi), caves lined with stones that look like coloured woven fabrics (Kastania), taverns, cafes, people with warm smiles - it would be easy to surrender to a life of nothing but this. Opposite Neapolis is the islet of Elafonissi, a dream snatched from the South Seas. Swimming, fishing, sand, sun, twilight, moonlight, octopus in red wine, fish stew and seafood are the way of life here. On the horizon beyond lies Kithira, the isle of Eros, the legendary birthplace of the goddess Aphrodite (Venus). From the first step on the island the visitor will discover ancient temples, Byzantine churches and monasteries, Venetian castles, caves with stalactites and stalagmites and miniature lakes, villages with the distinctive architecture of the lonian islands, pebbly beaches, sandy beaches, multicoloured shells, greenery, hills and countless birds. All giving the feeling of a world where happiness and the joy of life reign supreme. The caique stops its engine at Antikithira, a barren rock in the middle of the sea. The island is famous because the wonderful statue of the Ephebos of Antikithira was found on the island's shores. In this place visitors spend days and nights in the embrace of the sea, in company with the sun and the moon and the sea breeze. Maybe one day a modern Aphrodite will rise from the sea foam.

Source: Greek National Tourism Organisation