The
central
core of
the
Peloponnese
is the
luxuriantly
spreading
Mount
Ménalo,
surrounded
by some
of the
most
beautiful
and
verdant
landscapes
in
Greece,
though
fire
damage
in
summer
2000 has
taken
its toll.
Due
south,
in the
Lakonian
Evrótas
valley,
are
Spárti
and its
Byzantine
companion,
Mystra
, both
overlooked
and
sheltered
from the
west by
the
massive
and
astonishing
wall of
the
Taďyetos
mountain
ridge.
