Strezova

On a hill called Palaiokastro, about 1,200 metres west of the village of Daphne near Kalavryta, a few scattered stones and a short stretch of dry wall are all that remain of a fortification usually labelled Frankish, perhaps from the 13th or 14th century. The old village name was Strezova, and this site is sometimes called the Western castle of Strezova, to distinguish it from a supposed Eastern castle, or castle of Drymonas, said to have stood four kilometres east overlooking the Ladonas river. Nothing has ever been found there, and its existence remains doubtful. The present village dates from the Ottoman period, though the name may be older: a Strezza castle appears in lists from 1463, possibly this very spot. The hilltop is a small plateau, at most 30 metres long, with a few stone piles and several metres of wall 1.5 to 2 metres thick on the southern side. An early 20th-century report claimed a 300-metre wall, but dense vegetation makes this hard to verify, and no mortar, brick or tile has been seen.