It’s hard to beat walking on the Mediterranean seaside but a serendipitous sidetrek in the Peloponnese to alluring spots like Sparta and Epidauros can be equally exhilarating. And although the Idiot usually has a serious mission when he veers off the unbeaten coastal path, it’s invariably altered when he reaches his destination.
He went to Sparta, for example, simply to have another discussion with Helen of Troy, visit the Menelaion sanctuary where she’s buried next to her husband King Menelaus, and find the exact spot where the King and Queen spoke to Telémakhos when he dropped in seeking details about his missing father.
But after that was accomplished The Idiot somehow found himself in downtown Sparta randomly watching the finish of the 28th Spartathlon. This was a 246-kilometer footrace from Athens that involved 450 male/female runners (only 120 finished) following in the footsteps of Pheidippides, an Athenian messenger sent to Sparta in 490 BC to seek help against the Persians in the Battle of Marathon.
Then The Idiot spent a Saturday sunset and a Sunday sunrise amidst the remnants of Mystra, a 13th century conglomeration of Byzantine churches, monasteries, houses, palaces, a citadel and an active nunnery (though there are only five nuns) on a steep hillside on nearby Mount Taygetus.
Mystra is capped by a sprawling citadel.
There are churches around every corner.
Late Saturday afternoon The Idiot climbed to the citadel to get a view of the Spartan plain with its thousands of olive trees, tried to pick out the Menelaion on the other side of the Evrotas River and failed to spot any straggling Spartathlon participants. He returned to a very tranquil Mystra at sunrise on Sunday and spent another reflective hour admiring frescoes and carvings.
Frescoes talk on Mystra walls.
History is carved in stone.
To get an even better view of the Spartan plain The Idiot then hiked up the 2,404-meter Mount Taygetus, where he met a 62-year-old British solicitor near the fogged-in summit and discussed Greek myths and literature with him during their descent.
The lunar landscape atop Mount Taygetus.
Yesterday The Idiot was serendipitously sidetrekked to the ruins at Epidauros in an effort to find an appropriate venue for Kathryn Hohlwein’s remarkable “The Readers of Homer” production. The Sacramento (CA) not-for-profit produces all-day/all-night audience participation readings of “The Iliad” and/or “The Odyssey.”
The Idiot participated in a reading of “The Odyssey” on a cruise ship on the Mediterranean a year ago – and hopes to join the fun at The Getty Villa in Los Angeles next April 30 – and wanted to check the sound effects at the 14,000-seat theater at Epidauros. Drop a euro coin on the center stage and you can hear the clink anywhere in the theater. That’ll do.
The Idiot at the Epidauros theater.
The Idiot also got a parting view of the Peloponnese when he MedTrekked through Nauplion, climbed to the top of the Palimedes Fort and looked through an inviting hole in the wall.
The Med and the Peloponnese from Palimedes Fort.
Why a parting view?
The Idiot is getting seriously sidetrekked and going incommunicado for a week as he moves north from the Peloponnese through Athens to Mount Athos in Macedonia. He’ll be almost completely out of touch as he computerlessly meanders and Medtreks amid the monks and monasteries on the Holy Mountain, the center of Greek Orthodox monasticism.
Although he will transmit his GPS location from a different monastery each night, women will not be able to Follow the Idiot to the holy peninsula. They haven’t, with just a few exceptions, been allowed in for over 1,000 years.
Text and Photos: Joel Stratte-McClure
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