LASCARIS MANSION

The edifice constitutes a fine example of a Byzantine mansion, which is traditionally believed to  have been the property of the Lascaris, one of the most distinguished families of Mystra.
Two-storied, it was built with considerable taste, if one is to judge from the surviving series of small arches which supported the balcony. The small floor with a vaulted roof was probably uses as a stables. Clumsy repairs of a later period have spoilt the original aspect of the edifice. Ruins of Byzantine houses, approximately contemporary to the main mansion, are scattered around it.

FOUNTAIN

Left of the path leading to a level spot shaded by a plane tree are the remains of a Turkish fountain with a  pointed arch and an ornamental marble frieze. The paved path that starts near the fountain climbs the hill as far as the Pantanassa.
In Byzantine times water for these fountains, which are encountered up to the Palace level (higher up there are only cisterns for rain water), was  supplied from the wooded ravine on the opposite slope of Targets.

THE MONEMBASSIA GATE

This gate is the only entrance that pierces the city's second line of defense and leads to  the Upper City, the aristocratic quarter where the palaces were situated. A solid square town with gun embrasures, still existent, protects the gate which had a portcullis; this slid smoothly up and down the jambs of the doorways, protecting the passage way in times of danger.
Immediately above this fortified gateway survives a rare type of three-storied Byzantine mansion with numerous arched apertures. The paved path which begins here was called the <<middle road>>. It climbed the hill, passed across the rerrace of the Palace and reached the second great gateway, the so-called Nauplia Gate, which, like the Monembassia Gate, had a portcullis, but was defended with stronger and higher towers.

THE NAUPLIA GATE

The name derives from the fact that travelers bound for Nauplia and Continental Greece passed through this gate, whereas the Monembassia Gate was used by travelers on their way to Monembassia, the port of Mystra at the time. Apart from the portcullis, which slid up and down the jambs, the gateway possessed impressive fortifications consisting of  a group of strong defense towers, both round and square, of very considerable height in relation to the gate itself. Two alternative theories have been advanced regarding the great strength of this fortification. According to one, it constituted a defense post for the nearby Palace; other conjecturers believe it served as the main entrance to the city.

THE PALATAKI (MANSION)

The earliest and largest aristocratic mansion, which is in a relatively good state of preservation, rises immediately above theChurch of St. Nicholas. The building consists of two sections belonging to different periods. The north section, including the tower, was built 1.300 a.c.; the south one was added later- some time during the 14th century. The exterior sides of the edifice are plain. Those of the tower, however, possess a lavish decoration superior to any encountered   of the exterior walls of other mansions of Mystra. The tower was three storied; and foreign archeologists, impressed by the mansion's numerous arches, chambers, cellars and attics, christened it << Le Petit Palais>> (Palataki).

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