THIS IS SPARTA!!! (and Mystra and Kalamata)

First stop on the agenda:Mystra! This ancient city was controlled for a time by Franks and Turks and is rich in religious history. Quite a few churches (even some still in use ) were to be found on the rocky slopes that Mystra was situated upon. Our bus drove us to the top where we started with St. Sophia's and we took in the many other sites as we meandered our way down.

A view from the top at Mystra.

St. Sophia's

A beautiful cartoon-like fresco on one in one of the churches. This one was a bit different from the other and was most likely also done in a later time period.

Another fresco: this one is of Jesus and the saints in some type of concert.

Another fresco!

A pile of bones we found in a cave while we were exploring. Joe was convinced that they were human; we just humored him, but most likely they were goat bones.

Another great view!

Votive offering to the virgin Mary for ailing body parts.

 

A place in which the priests would prepare the sacrifices. In the bottom left corner, there is a little drain for the excess wine to be taken away.

 The Hogetria-Aphendiko. 

A sarcophagus!

Supposedly a dove of peace taking off from someone's hand. Personally, he looks like a deranged chicken who, for the life of him, cannot figure out why a saint is attempting to hurl him from a balcony.

Another look at Mystra.

After our tour of Mystra, we headed off to Sparta. I was enthralled by the tales that Professor Hutton and fellow classmate, Claire, had to tell us of the ways that the Spartans lived. With a lifestyle solely focused on on the military, it was a strange place indeed. Needless to say, the actual ancient Sparta was a lot different than it's depiction in the movie, 300. However, it still proved to be an extremely fascinating place. We toured the site, its museum, and also an olive oil museum in which I gave a short presentation on the importance of olive oil to the Greeks. After we were through, we drove another few hours in order to get to the city of Kalamata where we would be staying the night. While there, we had a Greek seafood feast comprised of octopus, calamari, minnows (actually about six inches long), and other assorted marine creatures.

A statue of the goddess, Tyche: the goddess of luck.

King Leonidas of Sparta. His little smile is a bit disturbing.

Bronze sickle dedications to Artemis. Young Spartan boys would go through a whipping ceremony when they came of age. If they survived, then they would dedicated a bronze sickle to the goddess.

Recreations of the fossilized olive leaves found on the island of Santorini in 37,000BC.

The two images in this row are different types of olive presses. 

The ruins of a theater in Sparta. This was a later addition as the Spartans did not want to be bothered with something as piddling as art and culture. It is of the Hellenistic Period in which Sparta, infamous for viciousness.

King Leonidas and me! A translation of the writing on the plaque is "Come and Get It!"

A view of the mountain we crossed through on our way to Kalamata.

Kalamata at last!

More trivia:

• The Greek tour bus drivers are some of the most amazingly talented people I know. They can turn the massive buses on a dime.
• Potato chip flavors are much more limited in Greece than they are in the states. They usually have nacho cheese, oregano, and regular.
• Powerade is made differently here in Greece even though it is still manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. The second ingredient is not, in fact, high fructose corn syrup and the actual sweetener that they use is listed about three quarters of the way down the ingredients list (as it should be).
• Greek people are some of the kindest people I have met so far.
• A vast number of Greek people smoke. In the hotel at Nafplio, half of the lobby was smoking and the other half was non-smoking. This didn't make much sense to me as the smoke would just creep i's way to my side of the room even if I was sitting in the non-smoking section.
• In the supermarket, if you are to buy fruit, you must have it weighed and tagged in the produce section before taking it to the checkout counter.