A early breakfast and we head up to the franco – Byzantine fortress. This is huge fort and the owner of Mystras Inn drives us to the top gate after we leave our car at the bottom gate. The town holds a ceremony and festival today to remember the loss of the fort to the Turks and the commencement of 400 years of Turkish rule. Military and politicians are all in town. The fortress is massive, apart from military infrastructure there are many churches with their frescos, the operating monastery, museum and houses.

We drive onto Ancient Sparta which requires us to drive through Sparti, it’s a busy day, organised chaos on the roads. We have developed an appreciation for Greek drivers, they are not bad drivers they are superb drivers they just don’t know what road rules are. We take photos of the statue of Leonides at Sparti

We visit Ancient Mycenae. This is a site that has supported civilization since about 3000 BC. The buildings, art and culture they created was amazing.

It’s then a quick drive to Nafplio which is a beautiful town on the coast. A once sleepy village and the original sight for the capital of Greece before King Otto wanted his capital to be Athens. The town is now the destination for many tourists. A myriad of restaurants line the waterfront and just as many in the streets behind, plenty of the usual souvenir shops if you want small mass produced statues of Greek heroes or t-shirts.