Today i went to Mystras, a place that our professor compares to Minas tirith from Lord of the Rings. It was built on a mountain in the Peloponnese by a French crusader, William de Villehordouin. In 1249, William built a wall surrounding Mistras which made it almost impossible to conquer. Even if someone broke through the first wall of Mystras, they still have a mountain to climb and two more looming walls to break down. In small words, barely anyone attempted to conquer Mystras. The city itself began a place of philosophical and artistic influence in the Peloponnese. Sadly, it is mostly deserted today, excluding the nuns that still live in the church still.
Mystras is surrounded by beautiful churches filled with frescos that are beautifully preserved. For me, Mystras is something that I would rather see any day over Sparta. The beauty of Mystras is not easily shown is pictures and i could never explain it fully to you. It is something you have to see for yourself. After researching Mystras for a month it was really fulfilling to finally see everything that i had taught others in my class about the day before.
After touring the city of Mistras, we went to lunch in Sparta. Everyone assumed it would be a warlike city filled with tension and unrest but truly we all enjoyed a relaxing lunch followed by delicious tiramisu flavored gelato :)
S'agapo,
Alex
No comments:
Post a Comment