On Location - Mystras, Greece

Mystras, the ‘wonder of the Morea’, lies in the southeast of the Peloponnese. The town developed down the hillside from the fortress built in 1249 at the top of a 620 m high hill overlooking Sparta. From the 13th to 19th Century the fortress passed from The Franks to the Byzantines , the Turks, and eventually the Venetians. After 1834 the inhabitants of Mystras gradually started to move to the modern town of Sparta leaving only the breath-taking medieval ruins, and church frescos, standing in a beautiful landscape.  The ruins are designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.