Sparta is the stuff of legend both inside Greece and beyond her boundaries. The Spartans were renowned for their strength of spirit, for their bravery as warriors (celebrated in the 2007 film 300) and for the – well, Spartan conditions under which they lived.
Over the summer, whilst staying near Kalamata and so being within reasonable spitting distance, I decided to make the trip to find the ancient city. I took the scenic route, a spectacular road winding through the gorges of the Taygetos moutains (Mount Taygetos itself is one of Greece’s highest peaks) and featuring some awe-inspiring overhangs which didn’t always feel quite safe…
Drive fast under here, just in case…
It seemed an appropriate route into Sparta, difficult and not for the faint-hearted. And yet at the end of the road, modern-day Sparta was something of a disappointment: just a regular modern Greek town, with not a helmet or spear in sight. Until I found this, half-obscured by overhanging leaves…
The road to the legendary city…
The ancient city doesn’t look much, these days – scattered ruins plainly from several different eras, a large site but largely unexplored. Apart from me and a couple of bemused-looking Germans, no-one was there. There was no entrance fee, no guide books, no gift shop or cafe. I enjoyed the peace of the place, but I have to say, I think the Greeks were missing a trick; with minimal outlay, Sparta could become a major tourist destination, giving a boost to the modern-day inhabitants of the town.
I had a cheese and ham toastie and a Greek coffee in a little place opposite the gate to the main site. The owners spoke no English, and wondered what on earth I was doing there. I pointed to the statue of King Leonidas, guarding the football stadium along the road. There’s an inscription on the statue’s plinth which reads, “ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ” (“Come and take them”), which the Spartans said when the Persians asked them to put down their weapons at the start of the Battle of Thermopylae.
‘I came to see him,’ I said. ‘He’s very famous. Sparta is very famous.’
The owner and his wife pulled faces, not understanding my interest in what they saw as old stones and rubble.
But Sparta’s not a place, it’s a state of mind. Sparta represents all that was great about Greece – an indomitable spirit, and an ability to survive between a rock and a hard place. Small wonder the legends of Sparta are still recounted today.
Come and take them…
Author of the Mysteries of the Greek Detective, books with a touch of mythology set in almost-contemporary Greece, and featuring lots of fabulous Greek food.
