Today our first order of business was to head to the fortress of Mystras. It was built in the Frankish period in 1249 and is basically a large citadel that is situated on a hill overlooking the Greek countryside. It has various buildings including churches, homes, shops, etc. on the way up and situated directly on top of the hill is a Frankish castle. Our main focus today though was the Byzantine churches that were on the side of the hill. The first church we visited was the oldest one in the citadel, but was in excellent condition for how old it was. Most of the frescos inside were still intact and you could really imagine just how it looked in the medieval times. The architecture was really elaborate and you could see just how important religion was to the people in this time period. We then went to a second church a little farther up on the hill. It was a lot of the same thing as the first except a lot of the frescos inside had been destroyed. We were going to see a third but because it is so hot right now, we decided to call it an early day on the outside stuff. One small note about the Mystras: a tomb was found on site of a young lady (most likely a noble) in really good condition. Such good condition that her HAIR was still intact. Yes, today I saw an 800 year old woman's braid. It was disgusting. Our next venture was to head to Olympia. This city is where the Olympic games originated, but was also the ancient city for religious entities back in the Classical periods. This means that no one actually lived here, it was just a place to come to worship their gods. In fact, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world was originally built here; the great statue of Zeus and the temple that housed it were the heart of this ancient city. Obviously the temple and the statue were destroyed, but we get to see that site tomorrow so that's all I will say about that for now. Today was just visiting the Archaeological Museum in Olympia that housed the pediments that were on Zeus's temple, among other things. The statues from the pediments were MASSIVE so I can only imagine how big the temple would have been. After the museum we headed to our hotel...a Best Western! Normally they are kind of crappy in America, but it has the nicest rooms we have stayed in so far. And it has a pool (which we spent all afternoon in by the way)! AND a full size shower. I can officially say that the shower I took today was probably the best one of my life. Then we had dinner, and now I am just chillin in the hotel room watching soccer and catching up on my journal. Soccer is my new thing, who knew?
Also, this journal/blog has been the most amazing thing for me. The days are really starting to run together now, and I am having a hard time remembering where and what we did on which day. Thank goodness I will have this to remind me of my amazing weeks living in Greece (yes that's right I said LIVING, I will be here a month so I classify that as residence!). I don't want to forget a second of it, and it already seems like ages ago that we were in Athens.
Part of the altar frescos from the first church
A centaur statue from the pediment of Zeus's temple
Sorry Kels, I couldn't resist.
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