Monemvasia

The entrance to Monemvasia

Another view of Monemvasia

Walking in Monemvasia is like this!

Our breakfast tray arrived and we are still asleep. In Greece it seems to be getting darker in the mornings, although summer is coming. In Italy and in Sicily we came into beautiful seaside towns or cities: Salerno, Trapani, Tunis, Catania, but Katokolon and Monemvasia are different: cooler, and overcast, with much fewer inhabitants.

The advertised excursion to Monemvasia was 5 hours long and sounded quite strenuous; it involved a lot of climbing to a castle on top of the hill, and having lunch at a Greek taverna, but during the cruise they’d added more excursions, including a much shorter (2 ½ hours) walking tour of the Old Town, and I’d signed up for that.

There seemed to be no other option: a private tour had been advertised that sounded ideal, but it seemed to have been discontinued.  I had never heard of Monemvasia before. It was one of those places that you had to see, photographs don’t really do it justice. Monemvasia is really a small island/rocky outcrop connected to the Peloponnese mainland by a tombolo.

To reach Monemvasia we have to catch a tender from the cruise ship to the bus parking lot; there are quite a few of us; our guide is very informative and tries to keep track of us all. Some want to go back to the ship later than scheduled, and that’s complicated.  We ride the bus to Monemvasia which is a rocky outcrop along a low bridge-like road to the sheer rock face: we could have walked this! We pass a small necropolis along the way. Then the bus stops and we disembark at the main gate. It looks scarily steep!

From there it is so pretty – with rocky steps and paths, tricky but uniform; some take a tour to the castle on the top of the rock; although we do a bit of climbing, we get to a main public square. There is a church there that I’d really like top see, but it is closed. There are several hotels along the way. What a beautiful place this is! I don’t find it claustrophobic, like the streets in Nimes or some of the Italian towns we’ve visited, such as Ravenna, or parts of Firenze. It is just gorgeous, with flowers growing in some of the rocks. It feels safe and secure here, and there are other crowds you find in many other places, although we are joined by several other groups.  There is a rocky path to a bathing spot. I’d love to come here again, although there isn’t a great deal to do.

There is time for shopping, and we see some very attractive dress shops, where the designs are quite beautiful. JD wants to buy some garments for our daughter in law and our eldest grand daughter but I think it is unwise to buy clothes without being able to try them on. Buying stuff for me is not an option, although I admired an embroidered blouse.

At another gift shop we bought tiles with view of Monemvasia, for our Wellington sons and their wives, and one for me – to remember Monemvasia. It’s wonderful the way they don’t pressure you to buy things.

Then we went to a coffee bar and had very good gelato, served in wee containers. I had mocha, and it was delicious.

The we got on the bus again, and came back to the tender point; the rain was coming – we could see it, but we got on the tender just before it started to rain hard. We were so pleased that we’d negotiated the steps while they were dry and not slippery! We agreed that we were so pleased that we came on this late-addition excursion. It was one of the best, up there with Paestum and Olympia.

We got off the tender and got on our cruise ship again. It was the only one there. Soon after that we went to the Terrace cafe for lunch. Oddly the outside tables were deserted. We went to find ours, on the right hand side, and it was quite sheltered although I needed my cardigan on. We could see Monemvasia and the little cemetery as we sailed slowly away.  It was lovely! The meat today was rolled roast pork, with a filling of dried apricots and pistachio nuts. They found some apple sauce for us; another American woman and I insisted on it (strange that it wasn’t there already). I had it with gravy, and took some lettuce, cucumber, grated carrot and salad dressing. I wish they’d label the dressings! I also took a bread roll and some butter (from Spain, Espana) and cheese.  Of course we had lemonade mixed with sparkling water (they know us now!), and one of the waiters made us double espressos. We also had wee desserts, of course: blue berry crumble for him, and a kind of mini Baked Alaska for me. Then we retired for JD to do the washing and me to have a rest/diary session before dinner.

It is definitely cooler now, and not sunny. One gentleman claimed that he’d been here in September and it was 41°C!! I’d rather have it cooler than really hot: you can put more clothes on. I guess for us it was hottest (thus far) in Tunis.

The housekeeping service here is amazing. In the morning, after we go on our excursion, they make the bed, clean the bathroom, and replace the towels. In the evening, when we are at dinner, they do something magic with the bed (it’s soo comfortable), turn it down, place a chocolate on your bedside, and put out a – prayer mat? Like a pillow case, on the floor. I could get very used to this kind of service.

Nga mihi nui.