Day two of the Peloponnese field trip! We started off our day by going to the Fortress of Palamidi in the town of Nafplio. Its position on top of a high hill gives it spectacular views of the city and the ocean. Professor Dimitri gave us a brief history of the fortress then showed us the dungeon where a prisoner would serve solitary. We all filed in one by one, having to crouch down and waddle through a tunnel, to get to the small dungeon. Our group decided to walk the 913 steps from the fortress down to the road where our bus was waiting. My shins were aching but the views were so worth it!
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| Walking the 913 steps down! |
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| My friend Danielle and I on the balcony our room with the Fortress in the distance! |
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| A video of my group walking into the solitary dungeon! |
Our next stop was the Archaeological Site of Mystras, the center of Byzantine power. The site was beautiful and probably the largest archaeological site I’ve ever seen. A CYA professor, whose expertise is the Byzantine era, gave us a tour of the three-leveled ancient town within the fortifications and including houses, streets, public squares, churches, and palaces. We could see evidence of the town’s Medieval and Ottoman history in the same place!
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| A beautiful church on the site! |
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| Walking through the streets of Mystras! |
For lunch, we stopped at the modern town of Sparta. I was super excited to see Sparta because it has always played such an important in mythology and ancient history. The Spartans were known for their military prowess and societal order. They prided themselves on being the opposite of democratic Athens; there was a very clear hierarchical structure, and everyone knew their roles and what they were supposed to do. They were the superpower of ancient Greece. Modern Sparta, however, did not reflect this. Perhaps it was because we didn’t have enough time to explore or we visited during the wrong time of year, but the city did not show hints of its legendary past.
Our last stop was the city of Kalamata, where we spent the night. For one of my classes, “Ancient Materials and Technologies”, my group had chosen the name “Kalamata Olives” for our team name (don’t ask). I knew Kalamata was famous for their olives, but what I wasn’t prepared for was to be hit with the smell as soon as I stepped off the bus. We didn’t have much time to explore that night, but we were just in time to catch the sunset at the port to the smell of olives ahh ~~
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| Sunset with a smell of olives! :) |
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