SUNDAY JUN 17, 2012, MONEMVASIA, GREECE - WOW!! WONDERFUL!! (pronounced mon-em-va-SEE-a)
What an amazing day this was! I didn’t sleep well (awake from midnight until after 5:30am) so it was a struggle when the alarm went off at 7am but we were so looking forward to visiting Monemvasia Greece. We are in a cabin on the bottom level of the ship with two portholes. Its about 6 feet from the portholes to the water line - but last night the seas were rough (with lots of wind) and when they crashed against the side of the ship it was very loud. And a bit disconcerting to watch the water rise above the portholes. Just like living in a submarine.
Monemvasia (means “single entrance”) is a small walled city on a small island with a very high rock hill with a single gated entrance in a very old giant brick wall that surrounds the entire village. The many churches and homes were originally built inside the wall in the lower city at the end of the 6th Century by the residents of Sparta The upper fortress was also built inside the great wall at the top of the rock peak - this is one huge rock 300m feet tall with a sheer cliff face. Monemvasia is today connected to the mainland and harbour by a short 535 feet long causeway - but originally it was connected by a long draw bridge that could be raised to prevent invasion.
It was populated in its’ hey day by around 30,000 people and 40 churches. The upper village is today just ruins and long since abandoned but the lower village is still inhabited and today has many small jewellry and tourist stores, wine stores, and wonderful little restaurants and hotels. There are no motorised vehicles allowed in the town (everything has to be parked outside the gate entrance through the wall, and the streets are tiny uneven cobble stoned, perhaps only 10 feet wide. With lots of flowering bougainvillea everywhere, along with pots of geraniums and petunia you can imagine how delightful this was to stroll through and meander down every walkway! But I’m getting ahead of myself!
While the Captain was docking right next to Monemvasia (yes, the only ship in the harbour - one of the fabulous benefits of sailing on the Windstar) we ate our breakfast outside on the deck at the Verandah: low fat granola, fresh fruits and a pastry (couldn’t resist!) followed by cream cheese blintz and blue berries washed down with ice water and black coffee. There were lots of other selections including bagels, salmon, any omelette combination or egg dish you could think of - the very helpful staff is at your elbow all the time without being intruding or annoying - they know your names, they like to have a joke with you and they fetch all of your a la carte orders very efficiently. Apart from the senior staff (Captain, Chief Engineer, Hotel Manager etc) the staff is all Philippino and Indonesian - they work together well, they talk to each other in English, and they joke and have fun while working - certainly everything runs smoothly and you get no sense of any friction at all - and the Captain confirmed the same to us, that they are a very good functioning and hard working crew.
The wind was blowing at gale force speeds, and outside the protection of the Monemvasia cliffs, there were wind whipped seas with large whitecaps - just as windy as it had been yesterday in Athens! The Windsurf was swinging on its’ anchor, so the Captain moved further out to sea and set up the gangway on both sides of the ship - he told us that due to the wind they would be using both gangways at various times during the day - whichever side was most stable as the small boat tenders ran the passengers between the mainland and the Windsurf.
So we’re off the ship around 10 and walking along the modern rock bridge connecting the mainland and the cliff, it as so very hot but only about 30 minutes to walk. (you could also take a local bus at 1E each which runs every 30 minutes or so). The walk felt good and of course let us take lots of photos! When we came to the entrance gate, there were lots of bikes, scooters and cars parked outside - and local men pushing wooden hand carts with luggage from tourists arriving and departing. Don’t think of crowds and busy - there were maybe 10 tourists coming and going and total maybe 20 cars parked along the road - this is touring at its’ best with no crowds!
We really enjoyed the walk through the town taking pictures as we went, and our objective was the start of the steep zig zag trail to the top of the cliff to see the ruins and the views from the top of the cliff. The trail started right at the Church of Christ in Chains (Hristos Elkomenos) which used to be a 12th century Byzantine cathedral and rebuilt late 17th century by the Venetians. Monemvasia passed through Byzantine, Vatican, Franks, Venetian and Ottoman hands before becoming a part of modern Greece. When it was a Venetian possession it was know as Malvasia, or Napoli di Malvasis.
So upon reaching the Church of Christ in Chains - (which is currently in the chains of scaffolding as they rebuild and restore it!) we started the climb up the rock steps, zig zagging our way to the cliff top. It was so hot we were sweating but the wind was drying a lot of our sweat - thank goodness we had taken along 2 bottles of water! There were several folks from the Windsurf climbing, we passed some going up and some coming down. Many folks chose their point of return early and headed back down the trail. Most only went as far as the Agia Sofia (Holy Wisdom) Byzantine Church sitting right at the edge of the cliff - the views were beautiful, but first we dived into the shade of the Agia Sofia and drank water as we tried to cool off! The Agia Sofia is supposed to be beautiful inside but unfortunately the heavy wooden front doors were locked with a padlock - we could push them open just enough to squeeze the small camera inside and take a photo!
We then continued heading up the hill along trails that were not so steep but had no shade whatsoever - it just got hotter! Along the trails were huge numbers of dried flowers - really quite pretty, and wasps and hornets everywhere - I think they liked the green t-shirt that I was wearing! It took about 60 minutes from the bottom to the top of the upper fort ruins at around 300 metres - and even though it was suggested as a 40 minute moderately strenuous walk we think 60 minutes and very strenuous given the heat and steepness would be more realistic. There were very few who made it all the way to the top - but honestly, at the top the views were spectacular and well worth the extra time and sweat to get there!
We overlooked the small modern mainland town of Gefyra and the connecting road between the medieval and modern towns. The ocean was an azure blue, the wind was blowing and there was not a cloud in the sky! There was just Terry and I - it was so peaceful we thoroughly enjoyed this special time in solitude!
We walked back down the trails, stepping very carefully down some of the large rocks and being really careful on the rocky trails where the stones are very well worn and very shiny and slippery - step with care was our motto and we made it safely back to the lower village without falling! Our first stop was for a cold beer and water at the Matoula restaurant with a terrace overlooking the azure waters of the Ionian Sea. We had cool breezes blowing as we sat under thick grape vines, and large olive trees, drinking ice cold water (2E) and a bottle of local Alfa beer (3.50E). Terry ordered moussaka but they had none, so we shared pork souvlaki and fried cheese with fresh lemon - total bill including tip and beer and water was 25E. Then we went exploring along the old sea wall next to the ocean where we could look up at the cliffs and homes versus our morning walk when we had looked down on all the red roofs - we kept walking along the wall which was in bad shape in parts with steep worn out steps - when we reached the point where the wall disappeared and we were on a house roof we had to turn around and come back to where we knew we could get out! We bought a couple of postcards and admired silver and pearl jewellry by a well known Greek Artist and were soon heading back down the hill to the mainland town of Gefyra, passing by all the folks waiting for the bus to come back and give them the ride back to town 1E - we arrived before the bus did!
Back at the waterfront the town was very sleepy, in fact many stores here shut at 1:30 or 2. Along the waterfront there were several restaurants with tables overlooking the fishing boats, and of course the beautiful white Windsurf anchored just offshore. We sat and enjoyed another well earned water and beer - this time it was just 3E total for them both! We also had WIFI access here and so managed to check emails and send a couple of photos back of beautiful Monemvasia.
The last tender to Windsurf was 4:45pm but we went back just after 4pm and time for a fast shower before heading to the back deck to enjoy Van Gelis 1492 played as we departed Monemvasia - this is the Windstar line signature tune played on every ship as they depart every port - quite an exciting and dramatic piece of music - especially as we pulled away and the Captain unfurled all 5 huge white sails, 200 plus feet in the air!
Just before 6pm we changed and went to enjoy the Captain’s Cocktail Party - and it was excellent. Captain John Clark is a 50 year old Brit with a wonderful and dry sense of humour and no formality to get in the way! He joked about himself and his experiences, and each time he introduced a new member of his Executive Team a different song was played - each appropriate to the function that they performed - like “We Will Rock You” for Captain John, “ Welcome to the hotel California“ for Matteo Martini the Hotel Manager, “Money, Money Money” for the Purser, “Hungry like the Wolf“ for the Executive Chef, and “Staying Alive“ for the Doctor.
At 7:30 pm we had a reservation for dinner in Degrees with Shirley Lew from Cruise Strategies, along with the other 12 or so Travel Consultants (and their companions) who are fortunate enough like us to be on this cruise. Dinner was excellent, starting with shrimp and scallop ceviche followed by Beef Wellington with asparagus, and topped off with creme brulee and chocolates! We have been enjoying a wonderful Marlborough Sound New Zealand sauvignon blanc on the Windsurf which we love - 33 USD per bottle. Due to the size of the group, the service was slow and it was 10pm before we finished dessert and headed to bed. It had been a very full and enjoyable day, we had used a lot of energy between the hike up to the top of the cliff and in the heat - we were very happy to immediately fall into bed! So we didn’t make it to the main lounge for the evening entertainment ........ maybe tomorrow?
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