Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
causeway to the
Kástro
, as locals call it; but the 1km-long entrance road, used for
parking
, finally deadends at castellated walls. Once through the fortified entrance
gate
,
narrow and tactically z-shaped, everything looms into view: in the
lower town
,
clustered houses with tiled roofs and walled gardens, narrow stone streets, and
distinctively Byzantine churches. High above, the extensive castle walls protect the
upper town
on the summit.
The lower town
he
lower town
once numbered forty churches and over eight hundred homes, an
incredible mass of building, which explains the confusing labyrinth of alleys. A single
main street - up and slightly to the left from the gateway - is lined with cafés, tavernas
and souvenir shops.
At the end of this street is the lower town's main square, a beautiful public space, with
a cannon and a well in its centre, and the setting for the great, vaulted
cathedral
,
built
by the Byzantine emperor Andronikos II Komnenos when he made Monemvasiá a see
in 1293. The largest medieval church in southern Greece, it is dedicated to Christ in
Chains, Elkómenos Khristós.
Across the square is the domed church of
Áyios Pétros
,
originally a sixteenth-century mosque, which was reconverted by the Turks back into a
mosque in the eighteenth century and now houses a small
museum
of local finds
(officially Tues-Sun 8.30am-3pm in winter, till 8pm in summer; free). Unusually for
Ottoman Greece, the Christian cathedral was allowed to function during the
occupation, and did so beside this mosque.
Access by water is as limited as by land. In peaceful times, the town was supplied
from the tiny external harbour,
Kourkoúla
, below the road as you approach the
entrance gateway. While in town, down towards the sea, the
Portello
is a small gate in
the sea wall; you can
swim
off the rocks here.
2
The upper town
The climb to the
upper town
is highly worthwhile - not least for the solitude, since
most day-trippers stay down below - and it is less strenuous than it initially looks
(20-30min depending on fitness). To get the most from the vast site, it's a good idea to
bring some food and drink (from Yéfira, since Monemvasiá has no proper
supermarket), so you can explore at leisure. There are sheer drops from the rockface,
and unfenced cisterns, so descend before dusk.
The fortifications, like those of the lower town, are substantially intact, with even the
entrance gate
retaining its iron slats. Within, the site is a ruin, unrestored and deserted
though many structures are still recognizable, and there are information boards. The
only building that is relatively complete, even though its outbuildings have long since
crumbled to foundations, is the beautiful thirteenth-century
Ayía Sofía
(usually locked),
a short distance up from the gateway. It was founded on the northern rim of the rock
as a monastery by Andronikos II.
Beyond the church extend acres of ruins; in medieval times the population here was
much greater than that of the lower town. Among the remains are the stumpy bases of
Byzantine houses and public buildings, and, perhaps most striking, vast
cisterns
to
ensure a water supply in time of siege. Its weak point was its food supply, which had to
be entirely imported from the mainland. In the last siege, by Mavromihalis's Maniot
army in the War of Independence, the Turks were reduced to eating rats and, so the
propagandists claimed, Greek children.
Yéira
YÉFIRA
is little more than a straggle of hotels, rooms and restaurants serving the rock's
tourist trade, with a pebble beach; though for a
beach
day-trip, it's best to head 3-4km
north along the coast to Porí beach, or via a separate road to the very clean, northern,
Kastráki end of the beach, by the Cyclopean walls of ancient
Epidavros Limira
.
