After the visit to the Diros Caves, we headed up to Sparta via Gythion. It was now getting really warm so we asked Thanasis our local driver, to put the Air Con on. We had a glorious 2 minutes of cool air before it died. (It would have been miraculous if the air conditioner had actually been fixed the day before).
Sparta was a modern town on a pastoral plateau with a river valley, and a hub for citrus and olive production. Nearby were the cliffs and the foothills of Mt Taygete. (Our driver mentioned that the ancient city of Sparta had been reduced to rubble by a Christian commander, but so far I’ve only found referrence to earthquakes and abandonement as the cause). We stopped long enough to get a photo with the Spartan, and then headed up to Mystras , which is a fortified city of the Byzantine era and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.