Friday morning came too quickly
as we left super early on a public bus for Sparta. Our hotel, the Maniatis, was
really nice, even though the town itself was a bit rough. Some people really
enjoyed the town, however, I found it a bit boring. That evening, we met for
class to visit the site of the Spartan agora and theater. Even though it wasn’t
Byzantine, John assumed we would want to check it out since it was our first
visit to Sparta. I actually think our class loved it more than most sites
because there were no guards and we didn’t need to take notes. We may or may
not have acted a bit ridiculous at the site, but it was an enjoyable outing on
our first day. After class, a group of us made dinner at the hotel and ended
our night watching “Baby Mama”.
Me kicking Cuzi while yelling
“This is Sparta!”
Saturday the class loaded into taxis and headed up to the
upper site of Mystras. This was an important city during the Byzantine Empire
and is the site of a palace, a few monasteries, and churches. The view was
spectacular and the sites were remarkable. Once class was finished, we had a
group lunch in Sparta at a “home-cooked” restaurant, returned to the hotel for
a siesta, and ended the evening with another movie-“Date Night”.
The Palace of Ancient Mystras
Sunday the class ventured, again by taxis, to the lower
portion of the sites at Mystras. Here we viewed the Metropolis church, a
nunnery, and a monastery with a church that is commonly referred to as “the
boss”. Mystras is very interesting because the ancient town seems to be
well-preserved (i.e. the churches, houses, and the palace). The rest of the
evening, again, was pretty low-key as we grabbed an early dinner, hung out
talking with friends, and watched “The Hunger Games” before calling it a night.
One of the old monasteries at
Mystras
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