Castle of Mylopotamos
The Castle of Mylopotamos, also known as Castel Milopotamo or Roumeli Castelli, survives only as a scatter of stones on the rocky coast at Panormos, a…
175 documented castles across Greece, each with real history, a location, and cited sources. A sample below; the full set travels with you offline in the Atika app.
The Castle of Mylopotamos, also known as Castel Milopotamo or Roumeli Castelli, survives only as a scatter of stones on the rocky coast at Panormos, a…
High on the mountain range of Sympetro, near a chapel of Saint Elias on the eastern side of Kos, stands a square tower-house known as Drakissa, or the…
On the hill called Goulas, above the village of Vounaria north of Koroni, stand the scant remains of a small Venetian fort. It was built early in the …
About five hundred metres south of the Laconia village of Geraki, in an olive grove near the Byzantine church of Agios Nikolaos, stands a modest but p…
The castle at Gianitsa, also known as Yanitsa or Janizza, stands in ruins on a hill above the village of Eleochori in Messinia, roughly ten kilometres…
A fortified cave sits at the base of a rock, high on the slope above the road, roughly midway between the villages of Vasaras and Veria in Laconia. Fa…
North of the village of Vassaras in Laconia, a cave holds a small fortification beside the little church of Agios Ioannis, known locally as “Ai-Gianna…
Stomiokastro is a Frankish-era enigma, a castle of unknown origin perched above the dramatic gorge and falls of the River Neda in the southwestern Pel…
The ancient acropolis of Methana, known locally as Palaeokastro, stands on a hill south of Vathi, near the beach of Megalochori, eight kilometres west…
On a hilltop that had already known fortification in the 5th or 4th century BC, the Byzantines later raised a defensive work of their own. The ancient…
On a hill three kilometres west of Angelokastro, in the Corinthian countryside, stands the largely ruined circular fortification of Prophet Elias. Its…
The hermitage of Taxiarchis at Kerpini is a cave sanctuary with light fortification, set into a rock face at Velika, in the gorge between the villages…
A few scattered stones on a slope between Ano and Mesaia Trikala are all that remains of this Frankish castle, a site whose story is almost entirely l…
On a low hill dividing the eastern shore of Eleusis Bay from the ancient Rheitoi lakes, only one of which survives as the polluted Lake Koumoundouros,…
The ancient citadel of Krani occupies two hills above the southeastern edge of the Cutavos lagoon, just east of Argostoli. The eastern hill, Pezoules,…
A vast, little-known ruin sprawls across a mountain southwest of Karyes on Chios, opposite the island’s famous Nea Moni monastery and some fifteen kil…
The hill of Boulios, or Agios Nikolaos, southeast of the Monastery of Saint Luke in Boeotia, holds the scant ruins of the acropolis of ancient Steiris…
Nicopolis, the "city of victory", was founded in 29 BC by Octavian Augustus to commemorate his naval triumph over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium …
The ruins on Mikro Vouno hill, above the village of Klokotos in Trikala prefecture, are generally accepted as the remains of the ancient city of Farka…
The Holy Monastery of Kipina is a cave dwelling wedged into a sheer cliff above the Kalarrytikos River gorge in the Tzoumerka mountains, south of Kala…
On a wooded hill east of the village of Paleokastro in Chalkidiki, north of Polygyros, stand the ruins of a castle whose origins remain stubbornly obs…
Above the village of Kallirachi on Thassos, a pointed rocky hill called Kakirachi or Metamorfosi carries the ruins of a late Byzantine fortified settl…
On a conical, steep-sided hill at the foot of the Kerdyllian Mountains, four kilometres north-east of Asprovalta in Macedonia, stand the few surviving…
A low, trapezoidal hill two kilometres north-northwest of Myrkinos and four west of Draviskos in the Serres prefecture holds the faintest trace of a B…
The Byzantine town of Polystylon occupies the acropolis of ancient Abdera, the birthplace of Democritus, and its story is one of decline from episcopa…
A Byzantine fortress of unknown origin stands on a conical hill above the Kompsatos river, north of Polyanthos village in Thrace. Its position command…
On the small island of Agios Nikolaos, just off the eastern coast of Rhodes near Archangelos beach, stands the scant remains of a fortified tower. Bui…
The monastery of Chrysopigi stands on the rock above Kastro, the old quarter of Sikinos’s main village, and it is a curious hybrid: a place of worship…
North of Oitylo, where the old settlement of Petrouliniaka once stood, a fortified monastery survives in poor condition. Its protective wall includes …
The little island of Agios Andreas, lying off Zakynthos' northwestern coast, once carried a monastery whose fortifications now survive only in a rathe…
High on a cliff of Mount Klokos, in a natural cavity, stand the remains of a monastery that predates the one now visible in the valley below. Founded …
The monastery of Agioi Fanentes occupies the southern hill of ancient Sami’s acropolis, a spot once called Kyatis, on Kefalonia. Its foundation date i…
The tower of Ai-Giannis stands on a deserted islet within the lagoon of Tholi, part of the wider Missolonghi lagoon system. It belongs to a small mona…
On a hill southwest of Neochori, in the municipality of Missolonghi, stand the rather poor remains of the Taxiarches monastery. Founded in 1742, it se…
A small French fort stands on a hill at the edge of the southwestern arm of the Gulf of Vathy in Ithaca, facing a counterpart bastion at Loutsa on the…
Zartoulida is a Byzantine castle-monastery founded in the year 675, a place where defense and devotion were woven together. In the unsettled early med…
The remains of a fortress-monastery stand on a hill above the village of Samoniva in Thesprotia, facing the better-known stronghold of Kiafa across th…
Nea Skiti is a monastic settlement on the western flank of the Athos peninsula, perched beneath the mountain and above a rocky shore. It belongs to th…
The tower of Tzimiskes stands at the south-west corner of the fortified wall enclosing the monastery of Agia Lavra on Mount Athos, a structure raised …
Morfonou Tower is the surviving remnant of the Amalfinon monastery, one of Mount Athos’s earliest major foundations, established in the tenth century …
The Kathisma of Agios Vassilios, also known as Paliomonastiro, began life in the ninth century as a near-independent monastery founded by a monk named…
On the west coast of Rhodes, near Vasilika, stands a watchtower from the closing decades of the Knights Hospitaller's rule. Built in 1476, it forms pa…
A few metres from the shore of Glyfada Bay, on Rhodes’ west coast below the village of Lakki, stands a late-medieval watchtower built by the Knights H…
The Belesi watchtower is a Frankish ruin on a low rock beside the road to Kefalovryso in Argolis, a village once known as Ano Belesi. What survives is…
The Palace of the Grand Master anchors the northwest corner of Rhodes’ old city, the island’s most significant monument. The Knights of St John, who h…
On the eastern edge of Pyli, on the island of Kos, stand the rather poor ruins of Peripatos, a medieval castle that was never especially formidable. I…
Below the rocky summit that carries the chapel of Prophet Elias, a fortified cave opens in the vertical cliff face, roughly 700 metres northwest of th…
On a wooded hill called Kales, two and a half kilometres west-southwest of Strymoniko in the Serres prefecture, lie the scant remains of a fortificati…
The abandoned monastery of Agios Athanasios stands at Fourkari, facing the islet of Soupia across the water from Hydra. Its origins are uncertain, tho…
The monastery of Taxiarches stands fifteen kilometres south of Aigio in Achaea, at the foot of Mount Klokos. It is a castle-monastery, founded in the …
The Arsanas of the Great Lavra is a fortified dockyard, built in the 16th or 17th century, during the post-Byzantine period, on the northeastern shore…
The tower of Agios Efstathios stands on the outer coast of the Athos peninsula, a solitary post-Byzantine structure raised in 1527. It is best reached…
The Castle of Agios Stefanos, also known as the Fortezza, crowns a high rock above the village of Agios Stefanos, or Gra, in the province of Sitia. Th…
The Koules of Koxare is one of the small forts, or koules, raised by the Ottoman authorities in the wake of the Cretan revolution of 1886, with constr…
On a hill called Kastellos, sixteen kilometres southwest of Rethymno near the village of Monopari, stands the remnant of a fortress with a turbulent e…
The Kastelli of Kissamos began life in the early 13th century, when the Genoese pirate Henry Pescatore raised a fort on the site of ancient Kissamos. …
On the rugged Aegean island of Antikythera, within Kythira Municipality, the partially preserved castle of Palaiokastro commands its rocky setting. Th…
On the rocky headland of Cape Ginas, south of Pefkoi on Rhodes’ east coast, stands a late-medieval watchtower, most likely built by the Knights Hospit…
The Castle of Lardos stands on a hill tongue just over a kilometre from its village, separated from the plateau by a moat and now cut by a modern road…
Feraklos Castle occupies a rocky hill on Rhodes' east coast, between the beaches of Agia Agathi and Charaki, facing the Anatolian shore. Its origins r…
The Castle of Archangelos stands on a rocky outcrop 216 metres high, about 27 kilometres south of Rhodes town and a short distance inland from the isl…
Kasteli tou Emporeiou is a 15th century Venetian citadel, and it stands at the centre of Emporeio, a village roughly 12 kilometres south of Fira on Sa…
Kasteli tou Pyrgou is the youngest of Santorini’s castles, raised around 1580 by the Venetians. A tower originally crowned the summit, but it was late…
Skaros is a blunt, rocky spur that thrusts into the sea opposite Imerovigli, and it is hard now to believe it was once the medieval capital of Santori…
The Maini Castle, or what remains of it, is less a fortress and more the ghost of a Byzantine town, perched on a rocky peninsula that juts into the sh…
Monemvasia is a fortress-city built on a great rock rising some 100 metres above the sea, connected to the mainland by a single narrow causeway; its n…
The Castle of Sikinos stands as a weathered witness to the island's layered past, its partially preserved walls rising above a landscape shaped by cen…
Paleokastro occupies a hill on the east coast of Ios, commanding a wide sweep of the Aegean towards Paros, Naxos and Amorgos. It was raised in 1397 by…
A small, round watchtower stands on a coastal hill north of Methoni, above a bay whose narrow opening encloses a shallow body of sea water that resemb…
The Castle of Reichea is a small, late-Byzantine fortification, most likely raised in the 14th century, when this corner of the Peloponnese belonged t…
Pera Kastro, also known as Chrysocheria Castle, stands on a low spur north-west of Pothia, midway between that town and Chora. It overlooks the modern…
Apaliros Castle stands on a steep hill in the interior of Naxos, between the villages of Sagri and Agiassos. Although no founding document survives, p…
Apano Kastro, the “Upper Castle” of Naxos, crowns a 420-metre hill above the Tragaia valley, a stronghold since antiquity but taking its surviving for…
Parikia, the capital of Paros, also known as Chora, offers no true fortress, only a picturesque quarter still called the “kastro.” Here, a few walls a…
The castle of Naxos is not a single fortress but a medieval town, inhabited without interruption since its foundation shortly after 1207. It stands on…
The Castle of Androusa stands in the Messenian countryside, some 21 kilometres from Kalamata, and owes its foundation to Guillaume II de Villehardouin…
The Castle of Serifos crowns the hill above the island's modern Chora, the remnant of a fortified settlement that was ancient before it was Venetian. …
Saflaouro Castle occupies the summit of a high rock between Lantzounato and Paleokastro in Trifylia, Messinia, in the southwestern Peloponnese. A Fran…
In southwestern Arcadia, near the Messinian border, the ruined castle of Gardiki stands on a steep hill, sometimes called the Castle of Oria. It was r…
Leontari Castle stands as a scattering of ruins on a hill north of the village of the same name, twelve kilometres south of Megalopolis in Arcadia. Th…
Above the shingle of Lefkes beach on the north-western coast of Patmos stands a squat, almost square tower, its sides roughly six metres long, now in …
On the southeastern flank of the Troizinia region, across from the little Tselevinia islets and east of the village of Pergari, stand the remnants of …
Karytaina Castle rises from the Frankish occupation of the 13th century, most likely built in 1245 by Geoffroy de Briel, a French knight born in Greec…
The Castle of Kiveri stands on the hill of ancient Mount Pontinos, 179 metres above the village of Myloi and the prehistoric mound of Lerna. Though vi…
The Castle of Koskina began life in the 10th century as the Byzantine stronghold of the city of Dolichi. It kept its significance under later Frankish…
On Alepotrypes Hill, roughly a kilometre southeast of Chountaleïka, the remains of Kastraki Foniskou keep watch over the surrounding landscape. This p…
The Castle of Piada is less a fortress and more a memory, a medieval settlement perched on a rocky hill near the sea in Greece. Its origins stretch ba…
The old castle of Pythagoreion stands as a coastal fortress in rather poor condition, on the shore southwest of the harbour at Pythagoreio on Samos. T…
On the hill of Profitis Elias, above the Larisi area of ancient Solygeia, southeast of Sofiko in the Corinth region, stand the ruins of a dry-stone fo…
The scattered ruins of Agios Vasileios Castle sit south of the small town of the same name, on the western slopes of Mount Dafnia in the Corinth area.…
The Lower Castle of Andros, known in Greek as Kato Kastro, was raised in 1207 by Marino Dandolo, a nephew of the Venetian Doge Enrico Dandolo, shortly…
On the small island in the bay of Agios Nikolaos, off north-eastern Zakynthos, the ruins of an early-Christian church and monastery survive amid a sca…
The Hexamilion is a cross-wall of decidedly poor condition, a long stone barrier built in the sixth century AD to sever the Isthmus of Corinth. The By…
The Castle of Glarentza, or rather the scant ruins of it, stands near modern Kyllini at the western tip of the Peloponnese. Founded in the mid-13th ce…
The Castle of Kalavryta, also called Oria, crowns a rocky spur of Helmos about 1.5 kilometres east of the town, at roughly 1,170 metres. It was raised…
Egyptokastro, a Frankish castle of the thirteenth century, stands on a low hill along the road to Santomeri, and though administratively it belongs to…
Sidirokastro, known in the medieval records as Castel de Ferro, is now little more than a memory etched into a steep rock on the western slopes of Mou…
The Castle of Salmeniko, also known as the Castle of Oria, stands as a faint memory on a peak northwest of Mount Tsetsevo in Achaea, east of the Panac…
The Patras Castle occupies a low spur of Mount Panachaiko, some 800 metres from the sea, on the site of the ancient acropolis. It was raised in the mi…
The Frankish rulers of medieval Thebes left little behind but this: a single, stubborn square tower standing inside the courtyard of the city's archae…
The fortress of Antirrio stands on the northern shore of the narrow strait opposite Rio, now overshadowed by the modern bridge that has replaced the o…
Above the celebrated monastery of Osios Loukas in Boeotia, a hilltop holds the scant ruins of a small castle whose history is largely unwritten. The f…
The castle at Volissos stands on a hill above the village of the same name, on the northwest side of Chios, and commands a clear view of most of that …
The Castle of Santa Maura, a coastal fortress in relatively good condition, is one of Greece's most striking medieval survivals. Its story begins arou…
The Castle of Skyros crowns a 179-metre rock above the island's main town, a perch with a long and layered past. Myth places the palace of King Lycome…
The hill of Vonitsa, rising above the southern shore of the Amvrakikos Gulf some ten miles east of Preveza, has long been coveted for its command of b…
St. Andrew's Castle in Preveza is a palimpsest of empires, begun under the Ottomans in the early 1700s and enlarged during Venetian rule from 1718 to …
The clock tower of Arta stands beside the castle’s northwestern side, though it is a separate structure and merits its own attention. Rising 21 metres…
Sigri Castle stands as a modest Ottoman coastal fortress on the western peninsula of Lesvos, roughly 93 kilometres from the island’s capital, Mytilini…
The castle of Parga crowns a hill above the town, watching both the mainland and the sea. Its present form dates from a major Venetian reconstruction …
The second most significant castle on Lesbos stands at Mithymna, also known as Molyvos, and its present appearance owes most to Genoese work of the fo…
The castle of Gardiki stands near the village of Agios Matheos, some 23 kilometres west of Corfu town, and is commonly regarded as a twin of the islan…
Angelokastro occupies a dizzying position on Corfu’s north-west coast, perched 305 metres up a sheer cliff above the sea near Palaiokastritsa. It is a…
Kassiopi Castle occupies the northeastern coast of Corfu, looking across the Corfu Channel towards the mainland. It was one of three Byzantine fortres…
Platamon Castle stands on the site of the ancient city of Heraclia, at the foot of Mount Olympus, and dates from the middle Byzantine period of the te…
The castle at Kastro, on the island of Thasos, is a Late-Byzantine ruin of the mid-13th century, raised on a rocky outcrop at the village's southern e…
On Cape Kalogeros, at the tip of the Molyvoti peninsula in the Rhodope, a ruined watchtower keeps its lonely vigil between two lagoons east of Porto L…
Vranokastro began life in the fourth century BC as a Macedonian fortification, raised specifically to guard the gold mines of the region. Once the ore…
The castle at Pythio, known as Empythion in Byzantine times, stands on a low mound at the north-eastern edge of the village, close to the Evros river …
The Beldevere castle, known in its day as Rizokastro, was raised by the Byzantines around the tenth century on the isolated hill of Kastellos, a heigh…
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