Akro Korinth

Every time we go west from here we drive through the shadow of Akro Korinth - high Korinth. From down below you can see long fortification walls with castellations and a few of what look like buildings inside.

Very few old castles look that complete, and this one has the distinction of being a crown on an isolated peak jutting from the plain that forms the isthmus between Peloponnese and Greek mainland.

Remarkably it has a spring that emerges at its highest point and kept the place well supplied with water.  That is the first thing we learned about the place when we arrived in the carpark.  The site has cisterns to store the water.

We didn't get into the cisterns but we saw photos on information boards that show them to be remarkably intact.

Shall I let the photos talk?  It is a huge site.  At this time of year it is green and covered in wild flowers.  There are still lots of fairly intact building and nothing to stop you exploring most of them.  Humans seem to like that as much as cats do I have discovered.

So there is Mr B having climbed up inside a tower with spiral steps so narrow he had to come down backwards.  

And here he is exploring a room inside one of the gate towers.

F explored inside a mosque.  Part of the dome roof has fallen in.

The church of St Dmitris has had a new modern-ish church built over the outside of it so that preserved on the inside are a lot of the original Byzantine walls and their frescoes.

The paintings are clearer than the photo and light conditions permitted us to capture

We found a huge handbasin/bath/cauldron/stone basin.... it is over a metre (3-4 feet) across.

The path up to the gate has been polished smooth under generations of feet,

and there are loads of tracks between old walls that make you feel like you could be walking in the old town that was built within the defensive walls.

(Apparently the main village was around Ancient Korinth further down the hill, but the inhabitants could retreat to the fortress for protection if they came under attack, and it could accommodate about 1500 of the civilians from the village.) 

Its history is Classical Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Turkish, Venetian .... so still in use into reasonably recent history, maintained, added to, adapted, and INTERESTING....

It is so much more than a few stone foundations and a collection of broken bits that have been gathered up and to which you have to apply your imagination.

And the views from the top are HUGE:

The Korinth Canal is across that bit