Monemvasia

Photographer's Note

‘Monemvasia – the Rock’

Hereby my third and fourth (# 4 is in the workshop) picture of Monemvasia (Μονεμβάσια).

This time twice a complete view of the rock, linked to the mainland with a narrow causeway.
Both pictures are taken at the shore in New Monemvasia (or Yefira).

The main post shows the rock from the southwest.
On top you can see some ruins of the upper old town of Monemvasia. In the green part on top of the pic (and at the other side of the rock, also on top) you find many remains of buildings from the Byzantine and post-Byzantine period, including the church of Hagia Sophia (Saint Sophia). See my first post in this serial. In Spring these ruins are amid a jungle of green shrubs and lots of yellow and blue flowers.

At the right side of the rock, down at the bottom, you see the diagonal line of a part of the wall that surrounds the lower old town. It’s too far away to see the entrance gate but the lower town is behind this wall. You can see a pic of the lower town in my second post in this serial.

The photo in the workshop shows the rock from the west-northwest side.
The first picture is taken at the end of the afternoon and the second one right before sunset.
Does anyone think I should have changed the order of posting (main post vs workshop) ?

Sometimes this place is called the ‘Gibraltar of Greece’. The shape of the rock in Monemvasia resembles a little the shape of the one in Gibraltar and the views from on top are in both places quite spectacular but still I find that Monemvasia is really unique. You will understand I enjoyed my visit of it very much.

Some information about the history, from www.monemvasia.com :

Monemvasia has been separated from the mainland by an earthquake in 375 A.D.
Its name derives from two Greek words, mone and emvassi, meaning "single entrance". It was called Malmsey by old English writers, Napoli de Malvasia by the Venetians and Malvoisie by the French.

It was founded by the Byzantines in the sixth century and shortly after it became an important port. It remained in Byzantine possession for almost seven hundred years until it was captured by the Franks in 1249 after a three year siege. However, it returned to Byzantine hands ten years later and became the chief port of the Despotate of Mystra.

When the rest of the region was captured by the Turks in 1460, Monemvasia remained unharmed by placing itself under the control of the papacy (1460-1464) and later under the Venetians (1464-1540). In 1540 the Turks gained control of Monemvasia after the Venetians abandoned their garrison. Although Monemvasia experienced decline under Turkish control, it underwent a revival when it returned to Venetian hands between 1690 and 1715.

In the War of Independence, Monemvasia was the first of the major Turkish fortresses to fall after a four month siege in July 1821. On August 1st 1821, overcome by misery and illness the Turks agreed to surrender to Demetrios Ypsilantis.

During World War II the New Zealand 6 Brigade numbering several thousand men was successfully evacuated on April 28th 1941 mainly from the causeway and the two piers. Soon after the Germans entered Monemvasia, which was not used as a defensive position but rather as a place for wounded soldiers to recover.

COSTANTINO, ManuMay, ngk, peppe59, vasilpro, chrkont, argycon, ribeiroantonio, dip, bema, Cretense, ymrk, AiresSantos, trekks, Graal, adramad, Emile, parbo, paololg, Angshu, cobbydale, Didi, Sonata11, ikeharel ha contrassegnato questa nota come utile

Critiques | Translate

carper (96) 2009-05-19 10:18

fantastic place Paul,
the point of view is well chosen, good composition, fine balance, god photo job here.
regard jaap

maglex (1980) 2009-05-19 10:24

Hi Paul, this is a very beautiful composition and I like especially the colors and the details on the island cliff. Thanks for sharing...Alex

COSTANTINO (115515) 2009-05-19 10:39

Hello PAUL
fantastic captureof that moment,you took this marvellous shot from a very interesting point of view..
there are too many attractive details,fine balance,beautiful composition,I like the colours and the details,evering is well composed
Great lightness and sharpness
regards and compliments
Costantino

ManuMay (36447) 2009-05-19 11:25

Hi Paul!!

You choose a good point of view in order to compose a great capture, very nice colour tones and a special light indeed!!

Congratulations...

Have a nice evening...

Best regards

Manuel

ngk (2413) 2009-05-19 11:32

hi Paul,
Wonderful composition, beautiful colours and lightnes!
Congratulations.
nasos k.

peppe59 (14555) 2009-05-19 11:59

Ciao Paul,beautifulst this photo, with colors red winning, great clearness.
saluti
Giuseppe

PixelTerror (0) 2009-05-19 12:01

Hi Paul,
A pleasant coastal landscape under not so strong but sufficient light, with a few steps to the right you could have offcentered better the small chapel model.
Have a nice day JY

vasilpro (41801) 2009-05-19 12:22

Hello Paul,
Monemvasia is a wonderful interesting place and the your POV prove it. Your composition with the little chantry in FG is very nice, the colors are lovely and the DOF very good.
Regards, Vasilis.

chrkont (4005) 2009-05-19 12:49

Hi Paul
A nice photo with interesting composition from a POV a never seen before from Monembasia.
Good sharpness and colors
Regards
Christos

argycon (2769) 2009-05-19 15:06

Hi Paul,
Really, very nice composition from this fantastic place! Excellent framing, superb colors!
tfs
Have a nice evening
Kostas

ribeiroantonio (22730) 2009-05-19 15:41

It is a truly beautiful shot. The little “chapel” in the foreground is lovely and adds a very good focal point. Well done.
António

dip (21408) 2009-05-19 20:22

Hello Paul,
wonderful image of Monemvasia,excellent point of view!
I also like the WS,
very well done,
Greetings,
Dimitris.

bema (26591) 2009-05-19 23:35

Hello Paul,

very impressive rock and a very good capture of it.. like your wide pov, creates a good depth..
well done.

have a fine day, warmest regards Bernd

npecanhuk (79329) 2009-05-20 2:53

Hello Paul!
Truly picturesque photograph, with excellent technical qualities and eye-catching, pleasant and beautiful results that pleases me a lot!
TFS - congratulations!
Best regards,
Neyvan

rodgerg (55767) 2009-05-20 11:54

Goed avond Paul,

Een andere mooie foto in jouwe verzameling met de kleine kapel in de FG en de eiland in de BG. Mooie kleuren ook: geel van de bloemen, rood van de daken, blauw van de hemel and het water. Zerr mooie afspiegelingen.
Vriedenlijk.
Roger

mikolaj_kawa (0) 2009-05-22 1:25

Hello Paul! Wonderful rock, amazing small chapel. Nice composition. Very interesting shot. Good luck!

ifanik (21679) 2009-05-22 5:51

Hi Paul
Very beautiful photo of this wonderful rock
I like your POV
Best regards
NICK

erdna (5713) 2009-05-22 13:09

A nicely composed photo with good colors, Paul. I just feel that it is a little bit over sharpened.

Andre'

Fis2 (169709) 2009-05-22 13:14

Witaj Paul!
A very interesting landscape.
I like the frame and colors.
Well done.
Regards
Krzysztof

Cretense (68709) 2009-05-23 2:21

Hello Paul!

Excellent capture of the "greek Gibraltar", great idea to include this tiny church, makes the whole photo so diferent and unique among many others we have seen from Monemvasia. Great framing and composition, excellent light managment, beautiful colours! Congratulations!

Hercules

bukitgolfb301 (54014) 2009-05-23 2:54

Hello my dear Paul

What a Nice landscape Photo ! Great perspective.
Vivid but clam color management and composition are splendid.
Congratulation on your good Job !

Thanks for sharing and best regards,
Takero

ymrk (15099) 2009-05-23 3:15

Very great sharpness,Paul.Liked to factors in here.Attractive color in there.
Take care of yourself,

Yağmur

AiresSantos (56155) 2009-05-24 5:08

Hi Paul
Great view of the rock and this small chapel in foreground.
Beautiful POV and colours
Have a nice Sunday
Aires

trekks (14348) 2009-05-24 9:45

hi Paul

Very interesting style of POV to show the rock formation above the water and with a good FG feature. It looks near to the mainland and even though the scale is small, the link is still visible.

Nice work.

tfs, bill

saylan-cb (12738) 2009-05-24 13:57

Hi Paul,
Very nice view with great capture and good POV here.
Well done!
TFS/Regards

Graal (103040) 2009-05-25 23:44

Hi Paul,
unusual place in Greece, good presentation. Yes, view like from Gibraltar. An interesting history in note and well done photo. Solid work.
Gr., Aleksander

lrw1966 (1632) 2009-05-26 9:03

Paul, Hi:

Splendid landscape with excellent clarity and beautiful colors. Thanks for the educational notes, also.

Larry

ElAprendiz (30) 2009-05-26 19:53

Hello Paul:

Who thought. Greece rocks make a beautiful country to photograph a number of contrasts with rock formations.

The viewpoint used, it is extraordinary to appreciate this beautiful landscape. Wonderful composition and perfect framing.

Special greeting from Colombia, John

adramad (72558) 2009-05-27 11:19

Hello Paul.
An original and nice photography, with a beautiful color that is outlined especially in the rock, a great POV.
Regards.
Luis.

Emile (20352) 2009-05-30 18:20

Hola Paul.
Wonderful shot with a very good composition, lovely place, very well captured from a good POV, nice colors and sharpness. Very impressive rock. My humble opinion is that I prefer this one.
TFS.
Best regards.

marcan44 (6315) 2009-05-31 13:23

Ciao Paul,
una foto dove colpisce la gestione perfetta della luce e quindi dei colori molto caldi.
Nitidezza e profondità assolutamente professionali.
Complimenti
Mario

parbo (11092) 2009-06-01 8:56

Salut Paul,

This is very creative and skillful point of view while including wonderful foreground and amazing rock mountain. I liked your artistic touch for splendid contrasts between colors and tones in all over frame. Very nice capture and great note to accompany the image. Your complementary post is also very creative one, congratulations. Have a nice new week.

Amitiés,

Ertugrul

paololg (31448) 2009-06-02 14:51

Ciao dear Paul,
Two images, this and that of the WS, absolutely pleasant, compotes in way different but equally suggestive. The small church in miniature is the cherry on the cake of this photo done with excellent technical quality. Compliments!
Ciao, have a nice Wednesday!
Paolo

barrufeto_77 (28888) 2009-06-02 16:12

Hi Paul.

Wopssssssssss...great. That island in the middle of the picture surrounded by water is excellent!

My compliments!

Fransx (1457) 2009-06-06 14:00

Hello Paul,
An amazing composition of this scene with that huge rock at the background.
A beautiful model chuch at the foreground.
Great lighting and sharpness.
A clean presentation in a neat frame.
Well done,

Francis Xavier

mkamionka (73344) 2009-06-15 1:33

Hi Paul,
very interesting place, nicely presented, really encouraging to visit.
TFS
M

Angshu (56760) 2009-06-16 0:27

Hello Paul
The rock is quite unique...we see from this POV, diagonal strata of rock on the near vertical cliff face & the ruins at the top. The other POV in the WS is also interesting for the framing you've done there. Good idea to put the small chapel in the FG, whcih gives an additional interest & also balances the picture well. A throrough & good informative note as well!
Best regards
Angshu

testmaniac (13508) 2009-08-03 22:50

Hello Paul, I'm not like others TE's members. The composition and colors of this shot i very good, but the photo quality is on a low level. To much sharpness without details. Think about to change your camera with DSLR for much better quality. You shooting well and I think you need this one.
This place is very nice!
TFS and regards,
Phil

cobbydale (1958) 2009-08-24 9:49

Hi Paul, thanks for visiting my gallery earlier which has drawn my attention to your own. This one stood out to me from the thumbnails and I like very much the composition and the framing - it's a lovely view. I think a slight increase in contrast would improve it but it is still a fine shot.
cheers
Leon

mauro61 (53411) 2009-09-19 10:58

ciao Paul,
splendida immagine della rocca in mezzo al mare col tratto di vegetazione sopra.
Una perfetta inquadratura con l'altarino in FG permette di vederla in tutta la sua bellezza.
saluti
maurizio

sabermonajati (11537) 2009-11-08 21:59

hi paul
you have nice landscapes together buldings.
your frame is amazing.
best regard
saber

jmdias (114262) 2012-01-28 16:29

paul

marvelous the contrast betwen the small chapel and the huge rock-island. I liked the framing, light, sharpness and pov here. Excellent job. TFS.

hugs

jorge

Didi (61589) 2013-10-28 9:34

Bonjour Paul
Joli point de vue sur ce grand rocher sous une magnifique ambiance lumineuse
Jolies couleurs douces
Bien cordialement

elenimavrandoni (0) 2014-06-12 18:07

Paul, a very remarkable place and a beautiful spot for vacation, I like the road taking to the old village, a long and panoramic road...I like that you have included the little memorial...very sensitive of you!!
regarding my last post, I took the picture from Ortaköy,
from the peripheral road of Portakal Yokuşu...
thanks for visiting!!
Eleni

Sonata11 (34119) 2014-06-12 18:49

Hello Paul,
very, very beautiful composition of the island. Wonderfully composed image. Perfectly well done. All the best,
Barbara

BennyV (34734) 2016-07-02 13:20

Dag Paul

Plezant om even te grasduinen in je gallerij. Dit schattig fotootje van Monemvasia springt er even uit. Zachte kleuren en knap zicht op de grote rots. Een foto die nog meer aanspreekt als je weet wat Monemvasia is natuurlijk. (Wij verbleven er twee jaar geleden even en vonden dat fantastisch.)

Benny

ikeharel (112419) 2016-07-04 11:18

Strange that I only saw few photos of this island on TE with its unique earth formation, Paul.
It has the shape of a table mountain as in Cape-Town or as the Uluru in Australia (did not see either in real).
The small chapel in the FG is a nice element added, and gave some perspective to the distance from the main subject, the giant rock across the bay.
Fine taken this interesting picture.
Good evening,
Ike