It rained through the night and the morning was gray and cloudy.  We headed south along the coast to buy some groceries, but never did buy any. 

Instead, we continued south along the coastline, in and out of the tiny rocky inlets and villages hugging the coastline.  We couldn't get over how steep and rocky the mountains are on the Mediterranean side, but as we drove up and over the mountains towards the middle of the Peloponnese peninsula, towards Sparti, the mountains were much more sloping, less steep with fewer hairpin turns. 

We did make it to Sparti, the ancient city state which was known for its military discipline and its hatred for foreigners.  Now it is a run-down, decrepit city obviously struggling with poverty and high unemployment rates.  In all fairness, maybe we didn't see the real Sparti, but we drove on another 6 km and came to this really neat town of Mystras.  We had a delicious lunch there, sitting in the sun, enjoying the village atmosphere.  We didn't have time to explore the Byzantine history of churches, monasteries, palaces, and castle so we hope to make it back another day.  We're running out of days.  The roses there were spectacular.  It seemed that everyone had some roses in their garden.

We took the major highway back to our apartment rather than the mountain roads.  We'd still be travelling if we'd taken them back.  And, to shake out all our travelling time, we really enjoyed an evening walk along the boardwalk of Xiropigado.