On the last day of the trip we were able to go to Mystras, which we'd missed earlier because of strikes. It's a large castle/fortified town on Mt. Taygetos near Sparta. We had a lot of fun exploring despite the cloudy skies and cold wind.
Within the fortification walls were multiple churches.
There were also lots of cats here, too.
After exploring the very large site, we stopped in at the museum.
On our way to Tegea, we stopped to look at this monument commemorating Grigoris Lambrake, a peace activist who was assassinated in 1963.
At Tegea, Rachel talked to us about the temple of Athena Alea.
Our next stop was at Mantinea. While we awaited the guard who would open the gate to the site, we visited the strange church of St. Photini across the street.
It's constructed in styles from wide-ranging time periods in Greek architecture. The inside was as eclectic a mix as the outside but all my pictures turned out pretty blurry.
At Mantinea, Nick told us about the major battles which had taken place there (418 BCE, 362 BCE, and 207 BCE). We then had a look at the remains of some Archaic and Classical period sanctuaries before getting back on the bus to head home.
I think that's the best Teki-with-cats photo I've seen yet!
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