Monemvasia, Greece

From Athens, we took a six-hour-long bus ride, careening along narrow winding roads with the driver talking loudly on his phone much of the time, to Monemvasia in south-eastern Greece. The air conditioner was barely working so the heat was intense – over 30 degrees with only one stop and an unknown as to when that stop would occur, so rather a torrid and nerve-wracking ordeal! We arrived at our destination as exhausted molten wrecks and, after long cold showers, collapsed onto the bed for an hour or so to sleep it off and recover.

However, the harrowing journey to Monemvasia was well-worthwhile, it’s not a Greek island but just as good, and with very few tourists around that early in

the season.

A spectacular island (lombolo) is attached to the mainland by a causeway and with an ancient fortified town (of the same name) high up on the seaward face. The Old Town was founded in the sixth century and one of the oldest continually inhabited fortified towns in Europe. There’s only one entrance to the town through a hole in the outer wall, hence the name Monemvasia (moni ‘single’ and emvasis ‘approach’).

It was a relief to have peace and quiet in Monemvasia after the chaos and crowds in Istanbul, and our days were spent working during the heat of the day and exploring on either side, as the temperatures were consistently up in the 30s whilst there. The beach was only a short walk away and we swam every day, such a pleasure in the clear azure warm Mediterranean (or is it still the

Aegean) waters.

We explored the Old Town on the island several times and climbed to the high point (zoom in on a photo of the island to see the ruins on the very top) early one evening. Although still very hot, at least the sun was not beating down and there was no-one else around but us. It was magical to wander among the ruins of the old Upper Town and try to imagine how tough daily life must have been up there over many centuries.

We hired a car for a couple of days and enjoyed the freedom of having our own wheels again, stopping and starting where we pleased, exploring ancient windmill ruins, old Greek Orthodox Churches stunningly perched on promentaries overlooking the ocean, and quick dips to cool off in picturesque sheltered harbours and coves.

While the countryside to the south was interesting, the drive north was absolutely stunning. There was the pretty, quaint seaside town of Gerakas, with a fiord-like exit to the sea, reportedly a lair for pirates in the past. We chanced along a remote road that led through picturesque Greek hillside villages with narrow winding streets, over a mountain pass, around massive looming bluffs, then down, down, down to Kiparissi, and more gorgeous little towns and white-pebbled beaches.

We often laughed about the lack of irksome inconveniences such as OSH regulations in some of these Mediterranean countries. You rarely see a road cone, warning sign or barrier for the hazards that are too numerous to mention, besides New Zealand probably bought up the entire world market for road cones years ago! As an example is a pic of the view from the roof of our

Air BnB accommodation with no barrier of any sort around the edge.

After a delightful week in the south, our bus journey back to Athens was far more comfortable with the air con mostly working (more so than last time anyway). As we picked up and dropped off locals travelling between villages and towns, we were constantly holding our breath wondering if the bus could manage to squeeze through between walls and houses on impossibly narrow winding streets - and they did! The bus drivers are extremely skilled, we were most impressed.

It was fascinating to pass through Corinth (for those who know their bible) and Sparti (remember those ancient Spartan warriors from our history books), and we observed a lot of the Greek countryside in the hours journeying to and fro, where, as we all know, olive trees by the millions abound in the dry, parched, tremendously rocky landscape.