Greece is known for its ancient ruins, but it also has a lot of medieval ruins, you know, like castles and fortresses and things. We saw several really cool medieval ruins while we were there.
Kyllini Castle
When we got to Kyllini Port and found out we weren’t allowed to ride the ferry, we decided we would just spend the day viewing ruins in the area. So we used google maps and typed in ‘ruins near me’. Well, believe it or not, one of the ruins was just a kilometer away. So we decided we weren’t going to find anything closer, we pulled the map up on the phone and took off.
It took us across a large parking lot and then down an older paved road along the beach. As we neared the end of that road, Google said to turn left. There was no more pavement, just a little stone and we came to a hill. There were ruts in the stone and we wouldn’t really call it a road around here. Martha said, ” You can’t make up that hill!”
I don’t like to turn down a challenge, so I said,” Sure I can.” I gunned the car and up the hill we went. When we got to the top, there was another turn to the right and no more stone on the road. On the left was a large rectangular foundation. We figured that was it, so we parked and looked around. After we got back in the car, we realized the GPS wanted us to go further to get to the ruins.
So we took off down the now grass road in the middle of an Olive grove. after a short drive, it went to the left and there was a large stone wall. We parked in the grass and I looked around. I came back to the car and told Martha I wanted to take her to a good photo op. I drove along the stone wall to the end of it and there you could see the blue Mediterranean sea with a small island and a lighthouse or other building on the island. I thought it looked cool!
After the pic, we realized there was no more road, not even mowed grass, so I decided to turn around. I started to back up and all of a sudden the front right corner of the car dropped and the back corner went up in the air. I got out and saw we had driven into a hole about a foot deep. Martha had me help her out and stand by the stone wall. The car was small, so I was trying to figure out how a could lift the front corner out.
Martha spoke up, “Why don’t you just try to drive it out?” I’m thinking “Yeah right, what does a woman know about getting a car out.” Since there was no sense in arguing over this, I got in the car and put it in drive. Believe it or not, the front of the car went up and out of the hole! I stopped close to the hole, so Martha had me drive a little more before she got in.
I couldn’t find any info about Kyllini Castle on the internet, but we will never forget our visit to it!
Clermont Castle or Chlemoutsi
We visited this castle later that morning. It often comes up if you google Kyllini Castle, but it’s not the same. We drove around it a few times before we figured out how to get up to it. It was finished in 1223 by the Franks.
This castle was in very good shape and was really a cool fortification. I was surprised how much of the castle was still standing for being 800 years old. I’ve never been in a real castle before so I was impressed with the construction of it.
It wasn’t very busy there and only cost a few Euros to get in. Martha stayed in the car, so I tried to get a lot of pictures for her.
Akrokorinthos
We visited the ancient city of Corinth and while we were there, we noticed that on the hill above it there was like an old castle wall there. After we got done at Corinth, we asked the people about it. They said you can drive up to it and there was no cost to get in. We had the time, so we headed up the hill. It was probably a few kilometers to get there.
The views on the way and at the top were awesome! We found out it was built to keep the people of Corinth safe and some people would have a house at both places. It was used to protect against Pirate attacks. As steep as the hill was and with the fortifications built so well, I doubt it was ever taken by opposing forces.
There was a lot of walking and hill-climbing here, so I explored it. It was Uber cool, with stone walkways, entrances, walls, lookout towers, and other fortifications.
If you ever make it to Corinth, definitely allow enough time to see this, even if you can’t walk it all. It’s worth the short drive to the top of the hill.
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