The morning of my last full day in Greece I woke up around 6:30 in Sparta and got the bus that left at 7:20 AM to Mystras because the next bus left about two hours later and I wanted to be there when it opened. I shared the bus with two other people, one who worked at the site and another who got off before arriving there. Mystras was a Byzantine fortress. You can Google it to get the full immense history just as easy as I can, but the site sprawls over a mountain side that rises up out of the plain and has higher mountains right behind it. There’s a bunch of buildings that are still standing and lots more ruins. Narrow cobblestone alleys and lanes are spread over the hillside. I spent over four hours there, and would have felt rushed if I had to have spent less time. Afterwards, walked through the nearby village and had a coffee and waited for the bus that I realized was not showing up so I paid the 7 euros for a taxi back to Sparta where I caught the bus back to Athens (about 3 hours) where I spent my last night in Greece.
Mark Vardy 