Well this is a big rock. You can’t even see the town from the land side. All that’s really visible is the castle/fortress on the top on the side facing the land. There was an upper town where the rich folks lived, and a lower town where the rest lived. Walled all of it. Monemvasia means single entry as there was a narrow causeway to connect to the mainland. It dates back to the 13th century and is a mix of Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman history. So. Cool.
It bears mentioning that it was in the mid 80's and humid. We started fairly early but oh boy.
So if you’ve been to Mont St Michelle it has some similarities but only in some ways. The lower town is steep and has the amazing rabbit warren of narrow passageways and stairs and random churches. The upper town is reached via a set of stairs that switch back up to the top. Yes, Karen did it too. The stones are well polished and it was quite something to see some of the folks presumably from the cruise ship in the harbor who were going up there in Flipflops. We even saw a woman who had shed her strapping and fashionably useless sandals and was walking up BAREFOOT!!!
We were sucking a bit of wind but went up to the Hagia Sophia at the top. It was sadly closed but the shade it afforded was a good thing. Loading the pics from the lower town. And the rock from the Mainland.
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