THIS IS SPARTA!

Right? I mean it’s the place we all know and love from 300 and we got to go there! How cool is that? I thought it would be one of the coolest places we go on the trip since we passed through it on our way to our actual day trip destination of Mystras: a fortress town founded by a French Crusader in pretty much the most defensible place possible. Before I get back to Sparta I want to talk a little bit about Mystras.

The city itself has a very small year round population and is about 10 minutes away from Sparta. We visited the fortress of Mystras as well as the 5 churches located within the walls of the fortress. Several of the churches have been pretty well preserved but 2 of them have seen some better days. Pics.

This deterioration is in part due to when the Ottomans took over they gouged out the eyes of all of the images on the walls of the churches.

The top of the fortress was by far the most picturesque view I have seen so far.

Sparta was a bunch of very tiny houses in the distance. The mountains behind the fortress looked like something straight out of Lord of the Rings which made me extremely happy.

Anyways back to Sparta. The town itself was a lot smaller than I expected but was still a nice place. We had a homecooked meal at a local restaurant and then went out for gelato at a nearby café which was delicious. We then proceeded down the street to a statue of Leonidas and took a bunch of pictures with him.

This concluded our day trip. Sparta was not the city I had imagined it would be…but it was still a good time nonetheless

-Austain