A little less exercise - Sparta

After our delay for the bicycle race and our adventure digging the car out of the river, we decided Mystras was just not where the gods wanted us to go on this trip.  After all, it wasn't ancient Greek, but Ottoman (and we do have plans for that in the future...).  So, rather than continue to offend the gods and taunt Iris (our TomTom), we went straight to Sparta.

Turns out this was the right choice, since we really wanted to see the Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil Production.  First, because it was some national museum festival, the admission was free, although you still needed a ticket, and the museum was open until 6pm (a new Greek record!).  The whole thing was short but well-arranged, with fascinating bits of information (an ancient Greek worker earned the equivalent of 3 liters of olive oil per day, for example).  We took lots of pictures about how the Greeks grew olives and made olive oil, and then had a relaxing stop at the museum cafe where we wondered exactly how and why the decision was made to build an olive oil museum in Sparta.  The answer came in the brochure they'd given us at the entrance: it was funded by the European Union, more or less like every other major investment we had seen.

We then stopped for a quick lunch in town -- nothing fancy, of course, given where we were, but I did take a one picture.  So, in case you are wondering:

This. Is. (cappuccino in) Sparta. 

If anything, the Spartans seem to be ho-hum about their heritage.  The street names do show some of their history:

but otherwise there isn't much - just a good-sized Greek city.  Even the town hall is now primarily a cafe, apparently with the political offices on the second floor.  The ancient site of their acropolis is off to one side of the city, behind the (modern) stadium and in and around an olive grove.  Although not stunningly impressive, it's in good shape.  Nonetheless, there are no information kiosks or plaques put up to explain what's where, or even which way to go and whether or not you can drive there or have to walk.  As noted elsewhere, deciding what is and what isn't a Greek road can be somewhat difficult for the non-native -- I fear when I return I'll consider broad sidewalks to be perfectly legitimate roads -- but after a short debate, we decided walking was the safer alternative.  We, thereafter, found the ancient Spartan acropolis, unsigned and unmarked, nestled amongst the olive trees and modern Sparta:

The Ancient Spartan Acropolis

Not exactly the Parthenon, but certainly a nicer acropolis than we've got in Cambridge!  As Lauren noted, however, making a big deal out of their acropolis wouldn't be, well, Spartan.