Efkarpia

Out in the fields three kilometres east of Efkarpia, near the west bank of the Strymon, stand the rather poor ruins of a large tower. It is not mentioned in any Byzantine or later source, but its context suggests a monastic role. In 1299, the Emperor Andronicos II Palaiologos granted the surrounding proastion, or settlement, to the Chilandar Monastery on Mount Athos, so this was probably a tower built to protect and serve one of that monastery's dependencies, akin to similar towers in Chalkidiki. The construction technique and local history point to a date around the middle of the 14th century. What survives is a near-square plan, internally about 6.5 by 7.0 metres, with walls two metres thick, still standing to a maximum height of seven metres. Enough remains to suggest a sturdy, functional building, though time and the plough have left it a silent, isolated relic of Athonite landholding in the Serres region.