Vasilika

Near the village of Vasilika in northern Evia, about 700 metres from the sea, stands a square tower of roughly five metres per side. Only its lower two metres survive, though it once rose to perhaps eight or ten metres, commanding fine views eastwards over the coast and the Aegean. Today it is easy to miss, tucked among buildings and trees. Its history is unknown. It may be a Venetian construction of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, as are many towers in Evia, yet its masonry does not quite match theirs, so it is tentatively called Frankish, without certainty. The site bears the toponym Paliokastro, meaning old castle, but the name comes not from this tower but from a nearby Neolithic settlement. The whole plateau has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and the Archaeological Service has designated it a protected site, noting traces of Neolithic habitation before 5300 BC alongside ruins from classical and later periods.