From Ancient Athens to Modern Olympiad 4

Mysterious Mystra

I will be honest, I hadn't heard of Mystra when I booked the holiday and didn't know what to expect.  My degree included some Byzantine history but I have to admit to being a little clueless about the history of the Empire. On our summer tour I read Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore by Stella Duffy and I have been to Ravenna to see the mosaics previously, but I was unaware of the fifteenth century city of Mystra. It is unbelievably beautiful.  The majority is ruined but there is still one open convent and we had an amazing couple of hours descending through a deserted hillside city, looking across the valley and at the beautiful Orthodox churches.

Beautiful frescoes in ruined church

View across the valley towards Sparta

More frescoes

The convent which is still open

Lovely sign requesting tourists to cover up

Orthodox church with citadel high above

Later that day we travelled to Olympia and checked into the most luxurious hotel of our holiday. From getting out of the coach to jumping in the pool took my son somewhere in the region of 8 minutes. There were three other kids on the coach to whom he had not spoken a word for the whole tour.  Within five minutes of being in the pool they were fast friends.

The definition of happiness

A touch of luxury

Dinner watching the sun go down