Vlacherna

The ruins at Vlacherna belong to an ancient stone tower, likely raised in the third or fourth century BC, during the era of the Aetolian League, which held sway from 370 to 189 BC. The structure saw continued use through the Middle Ages, and in the fourteenth century it probably served as an observation post for the Serbs under Stefan Dušan, who then controlled the region. With the arrival of the Ottomans at the start of the fifteenth century, the tower appears to have been abandoned. Today it stands in ruins, a shell of its former self. In a curious modern addition, the Geographical department of the Greek Army has installed a column amid the rubble, a surveyor's marker rising from the ancient stones. The site offers little more than this stark remnant, yet it speaks plainly of successive occupiers and a long, layered history.