Greece
Mystras
A Byzantine ghost city of frescoed churches crumbling down a hillside above the Spartan plain.
The ruined city climbs the hillside in terraces of roofless churches, crumbling palaces, and cobbled lanes that lead upward through arched gateways into silence. Frescoes in ultramarine and ochre still cover the interior walls of churches that have stood open to the weather for two centuries, and from the upper citadel the Spartan plain stretches flat and green to the horizon.
Mystras served as the capital of the Despotate of Morea — the last Byzantine domain in the Peloponnese — from 1348 until its fall to the Ottomans in 1460. The philosopher Gemistos Plethon taught here and later influenced the Florentine Renaissance through his writings on Plato. The site contains over twenty churches retaining original frescoes, many in good condition despite centuries of exposure. The city was abandoned in 1832 when its population was relocated to the newly built town of Sparta on the plain below, and it has remained uninhabited since — except for the Pantanassa convent, where a small community of nuns maintains the 15th-century church and its frescoes. The hillside setting means the site involves significant climbing on uneven stone paths.
Solo
A ghost city of Byzantine frescoes and crumbling palaces — hours of quiet exploration on stone paths with almost no other visitors midweek.
Couple
Wander the terraced ruins at golden hour, when the frescoes catch the late sun and the Spartan plain glows below — stay in Sparta or a Mystras guesthouse.
- Mystras was the seat of the last Byzantine rulers of the Peloponnese (the Despotate of Morea) from 1348 until 1460 — the philosopher Gemistos Plethon taught here and influenced the Florentine Renaissance.
- The site contains over 20 churches retaining their original frescoes in ultramarine, ochre, and terracotta, many still in good condition.
- Mystras was abandoned in 1832 when the population was relocated to newly built Sparta on the plain below — it has remained uninhabited since.
- The Pantanassa convent is the only building still occupied — a small community of nuns maintains the 15th-century church and its surviving frescoes.
Laconian oranges so juicy they stain your shirt, bought from roadside stalls on the road to Sparta.
Lamb kleftiko slow-baked in parchment with potatoes and oregano at tavernas below the ruins.
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