Return to the Rock: A Weekend in the Castle of Monemvasia, Greece

We came here on our only other (to date) and first trip to Greece about 10 years ago and we were excited to return, stay at the same hotel (the Moni Emvasis Suites), a family-run three-room number in old town, wander its same streets, admire its miraculously huge spiders and sip wine with Byron at his Kamara (which we were delighted to read, in advance, was still open).

We rode from Napflion around the Argolic Gulf of the Myrtoan Sea past affluent-looking seaside towns then up over the Parnon mountain range past the cliff-hugging Monastery Elonas then descended towards Monemvasia past terracota-rooved villages and through impressive groves of olive trees carved into the rocky soil. We turned a coastal bend and saw the rock off the coast on which the town of Monemvasia is built.

Left to right: Elonas Monastery, Village of Kosmas, Village of Geraki

Monemvasia was founded in the 6th century by people fleeing Sparta due to a combination of Goth, Vandal and Slavic raids and invasions, plague and earthquakes. This makes it one of the longest continually inhabited fortified towns in Europe. Prior to this founding, it was likely a Minoan trading post. Monemvasia was well located, just off the coast and camouflaged into the rock surroundings making it strategic for both trade and defense. As such, it was a sought-after prize and while it saw periods of flourishing trade and economics it also was attacked by those seeking to take it during the Byzantine, Venetian, Ottoman and ultimately Greek independence periods. In the 1970s the town began to flourish again as a tourist destination, which it continues to be today helping support the economy of the town’s 25 full time residents of the “castle” (and that of the much larger neighboring town, Malvasia).

We parked and dragged our bags across the causeway and, eventually, through the old castle gate (“Moni Emvasis” means “single entrance” in Greek) and across the rough cobblestones and up the stairs into the heart of our hotel.

Across Greece, you’ll find cats everywhere, often with a tourist (frequently female) petting them. Locals feed them. You’ll even see public cat litter boxes from time to time. The ancient Minoans revered cats because they helped fight off the rats and keep them out of the grain supply, and the Greek love of cats has continued on to present day. They are everywhere: street corners, sitting in tabernas, napping in the sun, cleaning themselves by a port, and Monemvasia is no exception. When we came here the first time, Melissa had read something about there being an overwhelming multitude of cats, and braced herself to be, well, overwhelmed. Then while wine tasting, Byron told us that there were actually “packs” of cats each protecting their own turf and that Monemvasia was divided into three tiers: mid-town cats (where most of the action is), lower town cats (nearer the water) and upper town cats.

Alas, one cannot relive every adventure. Byron was closed until after we were to leave, the restaurant we loved in Malvasia across the causeway (Scorpio’s) was closed too when we tried to go for lunch and (not so sadly) I couldn’t find any of the massive spiders I’d admired (from not too close) the last time. However, Moni Emvasis and its restaurant Chrisovoulo were as we remembered as were the quaint winding alleyways, byzantine churches, little shops and buildings that blend into the mountainside.

Byron’s Kamara. Closed until the 25th. <sniff>

We spent our full day wandering the streets, reliving the old memories we could and making some new ones. Much was the same, but the cat population seemed to be down (confirmed by a local shopkeeper due to some preventative spaying and neutering) the upper town was open this time (it was closed for restoration 10 years ago) and reachable by a climb (which we skipped due to my damn knee) and the elder woman from whom I bought necklaces for my nieces and taught to say “turtle” in English (to her visual gross disapproval. “Helena” is, admittedly, a much nicer word for them) was (not surprisingly) gone.

Sometimes we return to a place we loved and think: “it’s still great, just not as good as I remember it”, as it is near impossible to recreate a grand memory and a fantastic first impression. Not so with Monemvasia, its bloom still shone on the rose.