Lost at Sea: Southern Peleponnese and the Caves of Diros

Going up the eastern-most Gulf in the Southern Peleponnese, we headed first to Yithio. This was a small and attractive town at the head of Lakonikos Gulf.

The eastern gulf in the Peleponnese

Pavlov on the dock at Yithio

Another view of the port

Main street of Yithio

We used Yithio as a base for some explorations inland. We travelled to the renown Caves of Diros and to Sparti and Mystra.

Octopus drying at Yithio restaurant

Small islet attached to Yithio, this was our swimming spot

We rented a car for a day to get around, and shared it with a British couple, Terry and Cathy. First stop was the Caves of Diros, on the western side of the peninsula.

The anchorage outside the caves

Entrance to the caves

The 'manager' of the cave tours

The punts used to travel in the caves

Megan and Cathy ensconced in the punt

The limestone caves are very extensive, around 16km of trails has been surveyed. The tour on offer covers 1.6km, and we were conveyed around the caves by a punt, pushed by a guide at the back. The punt held about 6 adults.

I've been in several limestone cave systems, Wee Jasper and Jenolan caves in Australia, but I've never seen more spectacular and extensive formations than we saw at Diros. The narrow tunnels have barely enough clearance for our heads, and the experience of gliding through these narrow caves that seem to stretch off beyond the imagination was truly awe inspiring.

The tour lasted around an hour, and we were speechless and truly astonished as we exited the caves.

Megan exiting the caves

The exit portal

The bay at Diros from the cave exit

Lunch stop at Mystras

Next stop was Mystras. We drove through Sparti, the modern recreation of Sparta, but the wealth of poured concrete construction and the charmless city deterred us from stopping. Mystras is a fortified town built on the side of Mt Taygetos, where it served as the capital of the Byzantine Despotate of Morea in the 14th and 15th centuries. It remained during the Ottoman period, but in 1830, the new Sparti was built and Mystras declined.

Entrance to the walled town

Early Byzantine church

View from the site over Sparti

The Palace being reconstructed

Byzantine architecture

Walled compound in the lower city

Chapel

Mystras is built on the side of a mountain and is a very steep site. The random width roads are a main feature, but climbing them in the oppressive summer heat was a trial. The city is divided into a lower, middle and upper towns, and I'm afraid we gave the upper town short shift. Particularly interesting was the functioning nunnery (with only a handful of nuns remaining). The chapel in the nunnery featured beautiful painted fresco's on the walls.