#105 Gibraltar of the East

Imechapishwa: 10.04.2022

April 4-5, 2022: Monemvasia, Pounta

F. When we arrived at the peninsula of Monemvasia, I thought: Why did we drive through the mountains and then there is only a small peninsula like we have seen so often here in Greece.

Monemvasia seen from the mainland. (The square port basin is in front. Of course, the rock is not on the harbor wall, there is still a lot of sea between them.)

What I didn't know was that Monemvasia is not a peninsula, but a beautiful old medieval town on the side of the peninsula that cannot be seen from the mainland. After a short walk, a small but impressive city wall appeared in front of us, which made the castle an impregnable fortress for many years and earned it the name "Gibraltar of the East".

According to eyewitnesses, 30 men were enough on the city wall to protect the castle from attackers.

As soon as we passed through the city gate, beautiful and tiny alleys began, which extended without any system throughout the entire city to the next city wall. The peninsula consisted basically of a huge mountain in the water, and so the city was completely built on the slope of the mountain. As a result, the alleys were not only narrow, but also partly very steep.

You just have to capture picturesque views.

Main shopping street - one of the few straight streets in Monemvasia.

Because the city is so narrow, many houses were built over the streets, resulting in many archways.

The way back leads through picturesque flower meadows.

In the afternoon, we continued to Pounta. From here, we wanted to take the ferry to the nearby island of Elafonisos the next day. We parked our van not far from the ferry terminal right by the beach. When we arrived, we were greeted by a stray dog. He seems to have been living here for a while, as many campers had written about him in the Park4night app.

Parking space directly by the sea with a guard dog.

The next morning, it took us a little longer than usual to get ready, so we only reached the ferry terminal shortly after 1 p.m. We actually assumed that the ferry would simply shuttle back and forth between the two banks due to the short distance, but apparently there was a precise timetable and at the moment the ferry was in the harbor of the island, not on the mainland. Jenny spotted a person in the car next to us and just wanted to ask him quickly if he knew the timetable and the price of the ferry. The quick question turned into a 30-minute discussion about corona, which doesn't exist, states that are actually companies, and politicians who drink children's blood. In the end, we had to realize that some people simply cannot be reached anymore and have completely gotten caught up in their bubble. The gentleman could still give us the original timetable information, and so the ferry would wait another hour for us. We quickly calculated a possible schedule and realized that we probably wouldn't have enough time to drive to the island, do the planned hike, and drive back in the evening. In addition, the already very strong wind continued to pick up. So we decided to take a short beach visit on the mainland and drove to Mystras in the afternoon.

Beach next to the ferry terminal with a view of Elafonisos

Pretty tight here - 4.5µm up and 5µm to the side.

Day 171 - Total tour 13,187 km

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