The town’s name derives from two Greek words, μόνη και έμβασις, meaning “the only entrance”. This refers to the causeway which is the only entrance. Monemvasia is basically a Byzantine settlement, much like Mystra. The major difference is that it was never abandoned, and people still live here. Anywhere else this would have led to modernisation and the loss of the old town, but Monemvasia had one advantage going for it, and the clue is in the name: it means ‘Single Entrance’.
Like Mystra the town was surrounded by walls, and there is only one gateway that leads through them towards the causeway and the mainland. Crucially it was, and remains, too small for cars. The villagers probably cursed this, and many of them moved to Gefyra, the mainland settlement opposite the rock, but it meant that the old style of the town endured.
