1552 days ago
Long term readers and classical scholars will know that while Constantinople fell to the infidel in 1453, a few outposts of the Byzantine empire held out a bit longer. Among them was Mistras in southern Greece, the Despotate of the Morea which held out until 1460. Its citadel is Mistras: a collection of old churches and abandoned houses on the slopes of a hill near Sparta with a ruined castle on its peak. Lower down, but within the old outer walls, there are monasteries.
3066 days ago
As I mentioned earlier, the Despotate of the Morea based at Mistras is noted not just for its military power but also as an early flowering of the renaissance in terms of art.
Having clambered up to the top of the fortress alone, I wandered down to where the Mrs was resting and we walked to see the Byzantine churches at the base. I hope that the photos below convey the glory of what we discovered inside, murals which on their own make Mistras a place to visit.
