St Georges Castle in Kefalonia
Kefalonia is a huge island that has dramatic and diverse scenery. It has several scenic inlets and bays. The island also consists of a fascinating history characterized by many archaeological finds from the Mycenaean era. You can reach Kefalonia by air and flights to Kefalonia are quite regular too. It also consists of a castle from the Byzantine epoch. This castle is known as St. Georges castle that took its current shape early during the 16th century and was constructed by the Venetians who almost always seemed eager to build forts near the sea. The aim in mind was mainly to have command over the trade routes. The old fort was constructed built on the mountain located on the edge of a valley called Livatho.
After the castle fell into the hands of the Turks, the Franks and the Byzantines, at the year end as many as 1500 Venetians freed the castle from the Turks. In the process they also took assistance of the Spanish people as well as the Kefalonian people. For the next 4 years the Venetians make a full fledged attempt at restoring as well as fortifying the walls of the castle. The restoration and fortification work was constantly supervised by an engineer named Nicolo della Cimara in 1504. A suburb, also called a borgo was built right in front of the castle. This area is referred to as a Kastro too. The work was done by 40 Venetian local labor and craftsmen.
The road that goes to Argostoli starting at the castle was given a name Strata Communa. This road runs from behind the hill. This road was built so that it was not spotted by the ships passing by. The main street led to the church of the Evangelistria. This church has been built on the other end of the hill. The castle implied a lot of security people in the suburbs and the people of Kefalonia were also comfortable to have the Venetians around instead of the Turks. They were simply overwhelmed and impressed by the kind of knowledge Venetian engineers had. The castle was completed by 1545. The castle has polygonal and asymmetrical walls that are 620 meters long. The area of the walls is about 16,000 sq. meters.
The castle has two sections with the interior courtyard in shape of a horseshoe. The courtyard also has a rocky region right at the middle. It also has 3 main bastions. One of them faces Argostoli, the other faces the sea and the third one faces the village. The whole castle is worth exploring and its construction will never fail to impress visitors.
