Greece 2014 Adventure Kefalonia Adventure-Castle of St. George Day 6
Day 6 Friday - Kefalonia Adventure Tour. Castle of St. George!!
We were so excited about this tour, known as the Kefalonia Adventure. We decided to bite the bullet and take an organised coach tour of the Island instead of hiring a car. We did not want to waste time and miss out on the good bits, time was running out! The trip was fantastic with tons of information (the guide really knew her stuff) and we had stops to some really amazing and remarkable places. I took hundreds of photographs and have decided that some of the historical places needed a whole page just on their own so that you could really appreciate their beauty and remarkable history. The coach stopped right outside Niko Studio's opposite the Dolphin supermarket. On board was Greek cousins of the groom from our wedding party.
Our first stop was the breathtaking Castle of St. George, generally known as the Kastro, which had been the capital of Kefalonia since 1500. It also was the headquarters of the Venetian administrators, whose officials lived there in luxurious palazzi and grand houses. Some of the noble families also had homes there. The population which had shrunk at an alarming rate during the turbulence of the preceding centuries, had now started to grow rapidly.
Settlers arrived with their families from Western Europe and from other Venetian possessions in Greece, as well as thousands of refugees fleeing from the new Turkish overlords of what had been Greek territories.
According to official census results, the population of Kefalonia in the mid seventeenth century was about 60 000. New people brought new customs and traditions and a different outlook on life. The Byzantine tradition and local customs coexisted with new-fangled ways imported from the West. Amazingly,Italian at that time was the official language!! However Greek remain the language of the people.
St. George's castle (Kastro) also known as Castle of Kefalonia stands rather imposing in its size, I might add, on a hilltop about 7km south-east of Argostoli at an altitude of 320m.
The road up to the village of Kastro and the castle is lined with agaves (century plants, or American aloes) which produces a single flower stem several metres high just once in the plant's lifetime, after many years.
You will be blessed with unbelievable and breathtaking panoramic views from the Kastro down over the sea and Argostoli and even all the way up to Mt. Enos (Ainos),which I had just summited the day before. This view gives you a really good overall picture of the region, with its old churches and campaniles, forever reminding you of the bygone glories of the historic areas surrounding the castle. Outside the castle gate you will find a bust of Iosif Momferatos, who in 1850 was elected head of the Radical members of the Ionian parliament in Corfu.
The Kastro's excellent strategic position gave the Venetians control of the southern part of the Island, Argostoli harbour and the sea between Kefalonia and Zakinthos.
The hill was probably first fortified by the Byzantine period. The Orsini and Tocchi (1195-1483) enlarged the Byzantine fortress and used it as an administrative centre and military headquarters. It was then that the town outside the wall (the borgo or in Greek, bourgo) was built. In the two brief periods of Turkish occupation (1479-1481 and again in 1485-1500) the castle was repaired after being damaged in the 1469 earthquake and the fortifications were also strengthened.
In 1500 the Venetians assisted by the Spanish, besieged the Turks in the castle and forced them to surrender after three months. They then set about rebuilding and reinforcing the walls. The outer wall, which follows the contours of the hilltop and has three bastions, enclosed is an irregular polygonal enceinte with a perimeter of 600m and an area of 16,000sq.m.
The original form of the gatehouse, now mostly in ruins, has been thoroughly obscured by later alterations and accretions. In the enceinte the Venetians put up various buildings, used it as administrative offices, residences for the Provveditore and his councillors, barrack blocks, the garrison headquarters, storehouses and water cisterns.
The local population including the Kefalonian nobility, lived in the borgo, where there were both Orthodox and Catholic churches, schools (often staffed by distinguished teachers) and some grand houses.
The Kastor was the islands administrative and ecclesiastical centre from 1500 until 1757, when the Venetians decided to move the capital to Argostoli, then an insignificant village called Porto de la Cephalonia, to facilitate commercial development. Once this happened the castle and the borgo fell into decay.
Under the British protectorate (1815-1864) several of the buildings in the Kastro were repaired and altered for the use of the garrison.
Today when we visited a lot of the areas were sealed off to the public and construction and repair work is been done. I would loved to have been able to explore some more, but it was not too be. However what I did get to see was fantastic and it felt really surreal to sit up there looking across to Mt Ainos (Eros) and to know that this mountain was around during antiquity and that the "ancients" had also seen the very same view. Wow.
We were able to stop - grab something to eat and drink and use the loo at the Kastro / Castle Cafe. its a really cute place and all the people working there speak with a British ascent!! too funny. Actor Nicolas Cage was said to have visited and ate there during the filming of Captain Corelli's Mantel.
we were soon on our way again this time it was to taste some wine!!!!
We were so excited about this tour, known as the Kefalonia Adventure. We decided to bite the bullet and take an organised coach tour of the Island instead of hiring a car. We did not want to waste time and miss out on the good bits, time was running out! The trip was fantastic with tons of information (the guide really knew her stuff) and we had stops to some really amazing and remarkable places. I took hundreds of photographs and have decided that some of the historical places needed a whole page just on their own so that you could really appreciate their beauty and remarkable history. The coach stopped right outside Niko Studio's opposite the Dolphin supermarket. On board was Greek cousins of the groom from our wedding party.
Our first stop was the breathtaking Castle of St. George, generally known as the Kastro, which had been the capital of Kefalonia since 1500. It also was the headquarters of the Venetian administrators, whose officials lived there in luxurious palazzi and grand houses. Some of the noble families also had homes there. The population which had shrunk at an alarming rate during the turbulence of the preceding centuries, had now started to grow rapidly.
Settlers arrived with their families from Western Europe and from other Venetian possessions in Greece, as well as thousands of refugees fleeing from the new Turkish overlords of what had been Greek territories.
According to official census results, the population of Kefalonia in the mid seventeenth century was about 60 000. New people brought new customs and traditions and a different outlook on life. The Byzantine tradition and local customs coexisted with new-fangled ways imported from the West. Amazingly,Italian at that time was the official language!! However Greek remain the language of the people.
St. George's castle (Kastro) also known as Castle of Kefalonia stands rather imposing in its size, I might add, on a hilltop about 7km south-east of Argostoli at an altitude of 320m.
The road up to the village of Kastro and the castle is lined with agaves (century plants, or American aloes) which produces a single flower stem several metres high just once in the plant's lifetime, after many years.
You will be blessed with unbelievable and breathtaking panoramic views from the Kastro down over the sea and Argostoli and even all the way up to Mt. Enos (Ainos),which I had just summited the day before. This view gives you a really good overall picture of the region, with its old churches and campaniles, forever reminding you of the bygone glories of the historic areas surrounding the castle. Outside the castle gate you will find a bust of Iosif Momferatos, who in 1850 was elected head of the Radical members of the Ionian parliament in Corfu.
The Kastro's excellent strategic position gave the Venetians control of the southern part of the Island, Argostoli harbour and the sea between Kefalonia and Zakinthos.
The hill was probably first fortified by the Byzantine period. The Orsini and Tocchi (1195-1483) enlarged the Byzantine fortress and used it as an administrative centre and military headquarters. It was then that the town outside the wall (the borgo or in Greek, bourgo) was built. In the two brief periods of Turkish occupation (1479-1481 and again in 1485-1500) the castle was repaired after being damaged in the 1469 earthquake and the fortifications were also strengthened.
In 1500 the Venetians assisted by the Spanish, besieged the Turks in the castle and forced them to surrender after three months. They then set about rebuilding and reinforcing the walls. The outer wall, which follows the contours of the hilltop and has three bastions, enclosed is an irregular polygonal enceinte with a perimeter of 600m and an area of 16,000sq.m.
The original form of the gatehouse, now mostly in ruins, has been thoroughly obscured by later alterations and accretions. In the enceinte the Venetians put up various buildings, used it as administrative offices, residences for the Provveditore and his councillors, barrack blocks, the garrison headquarters, storehouses and water cisterns.
The local population including the Kefalonian nobility, lived in the borgo, where there were both Orthodox and Catholic churches, schools (often staffed by distinguished teachers) and some grand houses.
The Kastor was the islands administrative and ecclesiastical centre from 1500 until 1757, when the Venetians decided to move the capital to Argostoli, then an insignificant village called Porto de la Cephalonia, to facilitate commercial development. Once this happened the castle and the borgo fell into decay.
Under the British protectorate (1815-1864) several of the buildings in the Kastro were repaired and altered for the use of the garrison.
Today when we visited a lot of the areas were sealed off to the public and construction and repair work is been done. I would loved to have been able to explore some more, but it was not too be. However what I did get to see was fantastic and it felt really surreal to sit up there looking across to Mt Ainos (Eros) and to know that this mountain was around during antiquity and that the "ancients" had also seen the very same view. Wow.
We were able to stop - grab something to eat and drink and use the loo at the Kastro / Castle Cafe. its a really cute place and all the people working there speak with a British ascent!! too funny. Actor Nicolas Cage was said to have visited and ate there during the filming of Captain Corelli's Mantel.
we were soon on our way again this time it was to taste some wine!!!!
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