I know that each one of us travels to love alone,
alone to faith and to death.
I know it. I’ve tried it. It doesn’t help.
Let me come with you
Yannis Ritsos

Monemvasia was also the homeland of the poet Yannis Ritsos.When I was visiting this place ,I understood why he wanted so much to live there. Yiannis Ritsos was a Greek Writer of the early 20th Century, who suffered from political persecution and family misfortunes.Ritsos was born to an affluent family in Monemvasia (1909).
His father died insane, while his mother and brother died of tubercolosis when he was a child.He joined the Greek Communist Party in 1934. Beginning as a follower of the updated demotic tradition, Ritsos went through a phase of militant, doctrinaire poetry, as in Trakter [Tractors] (1934) and O Epitaphios [Funeral Procession] (1936) – a work symbolically burned by the fascist regime of Ioannis Metaxas at the foot of the Acropolis. During the Nazi Occupation of Greece, and the subsequent Civil War (1946-1949), Ritsos fought alongside the communist guerillas; after their defeat he was arrested and spent four years in prison camps. In the 1950s O Epitaphios, set to music by Mikis Theodorakis, became the anthem of the Greek Left.

About Monemvasia
Monemvasia a destination that echoes symbolic cousins in some other parts of the world. Mont St Michel in France and St Michael's Mount in England also can be reached by a tentative-looking roadway leading to what otherwise appears as a rock mound, an island pounded by the surrounding sea, just offshore.
To reach many places in Greece requires a love of winding, precipitously-edged roads and their careful navigation.
The Peloponnese has few interruptions in this scenario and this is what makes it so tempting, so continually changing in shape, tempo, geology and features of interest.
Most routes to Monemvasia, by sea or by road will give pause for gasps of delight prompted by the visual stimulation, the scenery, nature and - by land - architecture, archaeology, multifarious windows to the history of the areas you pass through. But when you arrive on the coast at the village of Gefyra, ready to cross the causeway to Monemvasia, the rock is daunting but you see no houses. As you cross you see the original quarantine hospital on your left and then as you start to round the rock, you come to the castle wall. Inside, through the thicker than you ever imagined outer walls - you are in another world. Perhaps a donkey will be the method of carrying your luggage along unevenly cobbled streets and  passages - you are immersed in atmosphere of ancient times a place that was safe from attack and afforded views good enough to thwart any such attempt.
The houses are built next to, above, below almost inside each other - some extend over vaulted archways across the streets. The surprising Venetian chimney pots characterize Monemvasia's largely terracotta tiled rooftops. There is one tiny main square with its ancient cathedral  church to one side.

Apartments Hotel & Studios, Xifoupolis
Xifias - Monemvasia, Peloponnese
Luxurious apartments, studios and rooms in the sought-after seaside area of Xifias - Monemvasia, and just 3 miles south of the famous Castle of Monemvasia, the so called 'Gibraltar of the... More…