Picturesque Mystras

"We know other dead cities of the Middle Ages, such as Les Baux in Provence and San Gimigano near Siena. Their picturesqueness delights us, but Mistra fills the soul with poetry...Up there every thought you think becomes broader, warmer, and more youthful,  as if you were drinking happiness and immortality. Vesuvius...fired my soul less than this beautiful volcanic crater of history and poetry...Here, and here only, could Faustus join himself to Helena..." ~Maurice Barres, 1910

one of the many views from the heady lofts of Mystras

Mystras (Greek: Μυστράς, Μυζηθράς, Myzithras in the Chronicle of the Morea) is a fortified town and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Sparti, of which it is a municipal unit. Situated on Mt. Taygetos, near ancient Sparta, it served as the capital of the Byzantine Despotate of the Morea in the 14th and 15th centuries, experiencing a period of prosperity and cultural flowering. The site remained inhabited throughout the Ottoman period, when it was mistaken by Western travelers for ancient Sparta. In the 1830s, it was abandoned and the new town of Sparti was built, approximately eight kilometres to the east. ~wiki

"Mistra is something entirely unique, for nowhere else was preserved such a city with its churches, monasteries and palaces, its double ring of walls and its mighty fortress...In these respects Mistra is one of the greatest sights in Greece." ~Eckhart Peterich, 1952

"Far from the twilight, miasmal, song-tormented Bosphorus and the vapours of the Golden Horn, this was the world, rock-perched in the heart of the crystalline air above the loops of the Eurostas and the olivewoods of Lacedeomon...Mistra, an extinct star now but, embedded in that upheaval of mineral...once can see a miraculous surviving glow of the radiance that gave life to this last comet as it shot glittering and sinking across the sunset sky of Byzantium..." ~ Patrick Leigh Fermor, 1958

This really was the highlight of the Field Trip for me. The climb up to the site was difficult, I won't lie. But, it was worth every step. It was the site of the last coronation of the Byzantine Empire, people actually lived up on mountain, and even today an active monastery exists on the site. It was bitter cold, with snow on the ground, but like I said, it was worth every minute!

I was so thrilled that we were able to take pics inside their church

The Pantanassa Monastery (Greek: Μονή Παντανάσσης) is a monastery in Mystras, Greece. It was founded by a chief minister of the late Byzantine Despotate of the Morea, John Frankopoulos, and was dedicated in September 1428. It is the only monastery on the site still permanently inhabited. Today it is inhabited by nuns providing hospitality. Its "beautifully ornate stone-carved façade" is of architectural note. ~wiki



We were treated to wonderful hospitality with Turkish Delight (which is a gummy-type rose-flavored candy that looks similar to Applets & Cotlets) and an opportunity to purchase some of the items produced by the nuns in residence at the monastery. The 'mother' nun was very short and rather elderly, but oh-so-sweet. We purchased a trinity design doily (if you can believe that!) and a beautifully embroidered table runner. Both our purchases and memories will be treasures for me - my first visit to a monastery, and a very old one at that!