Romantic Monemvasia Lures Lovers

Published November 9, 2011 |

The town of Monemvasia is relatively young compared to most Greek standards. Founded in 583 BC, Monemvasia is located on the Southeastern tip of Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula on a tiny rocky island. Monemvasia became an important commercial port for the Byzantine Empire, and continued this role for other conquering empires, such as the Latin Empire, the Venetians, and the Ottomans. Jim Bruce of Australia’s News reports of holiday to the medieval island.

When Kostas Michalakos left Australia in 1995 at 23 years of age to begin a new life in Greece, there was only one place he wanted to settle Monemvasia, the home of his forebears, and one of the natural wonders of the Peloponnese.

His people had lived on Monemvasia, an island of rock known as the Gibraltar of Greece, for three generations.

Michalakos’ family owned two crumbling 12th-century houses, which had been unoccupied for 10 years, on Monemvasia, and he decided to renovate them.

Today, the two houses serve as holiday accommodation to some of the thousands of tourists who visit the island each year.

Just off the coast of the Laconian peninsula in the southern Peloponnese, Monemvasia is a mighty 300m-high rock island linked to the mainland by a stone bridge.

It’s a 3 1/2-hour drive from Athens, making it an easy destination for Australians touring Greece.

The rock was sheared from the mainland by a massive earthquake about AD375, and from the fifth century it has supported an unassailable fortress town, known as the Kastro.

Once home to 50,000 people, the Kastro, on the southern side of the rock, cannot be seen from the mainland.

Read the rest of the article at Romantic Monemvasia lures lovers | News.com.au.

Photo by Vaggelis Vlahos

Chris Rivait

Chris loves history and hopes that Yesteeyear becomes a place where everyone can share their history knowledge. Chris owns an Internet Marketing company, Arrivait Marketing. He has a wonderful wife and four great children.