Trip around Skiathos: Old village of Kastro

It's time to continue our journey around the island of Skiathos by boat... Our next stop is Kastro, fortress located in the north of the island, dating from the middle of 14th century. Due to the constant pirate attacks, the population was forced to build a safe place to live, so the people of Skiathos used the hill that is a natural fortress. Until the middle of 15th century, Kastro was under Byzantine rule, then under Venetian, and after that the Turks ruled here until 1821. From 1830 it officially belongs to Greece.

See more pictures and  info below...

Vreme je da nastavimo nase putovanje oko ostrva Skijatos brodicem... Nasa naredna stanica je Kastro, utvrdjenje koje se nalazi na severu ostrva i datira iz sredine 14-og veka. Zbog stalnih napada pirata, stanovnistvo Skijatosa je bilo prinudjeno da sagradi sebi sigurno mesto za zivot, i to na brdu koje je prirodno utvrdjenje. Sve do sredine 15-og veka Kastro je bio pod vizantijskom upravom, zatim pod mletackom da bi nakon toga Turci vladali ovde sve do 1821. Od 1830 zvanicno je pripao Grckoj.

Pogledajte vise fotografija i informacija u nastavku...

From the initial 20 and more churches today are saved only two: Gennisi tou Christou (Christ's birth) and Agios Nikolaos (St. Nicholas). There is also the church of Panagia Preklas which is half destroyed.

Od pocetnih 20 i vise crkvica danas su sacuvane samo dve: Gennisi tou Christou (Hristovo rodjenje) i Agios Nikolaos (Sveti Nikola). Tu je takodje i crkva Panagia Preklas koja je napola unistena.

So while most of the passengers decided to enjoy the sea and swimming during one hour that we had available, I immediately grabbed my camera and started to climb to the fortress, in the middle of a summer day at 35 degrees. Dusty lane, provoking steep hill, no stairs, just some stones. My heart jumped out until I reached the entrance, but I told myself: there is no giving up halfway, no no no!

Stubbornness won, I came up, yet remained quite indifferent to what I saw within the fortification. Churches are pretty but other than that, nothing much caught my attention. Anyway one thing is absolutely more than worth all that climbing: a VIEW that stretches out!! Priceless visual experience!

I tako dok je vecina putnika odlucila da uziva u moru i kupanju svih sat vremena koliko smo imali na raspolaganju, ja sam odmah zgrabila svoju kameru i krenula da se pentram do utvrdjenja, usred bela dana na 35 stepeni. Prasnjav putic, strmina koja izaziva, nigde stepenica, samo poneki kamen. Dusa mi je ispala dok sam se popela, ali sam rekla sebi da nema odustajanja na pola puta!

Tvrdoglavost je pobedila, stigoh gore, ali ostadoh poprilicno ravnodusna pred onim sto sam videla u okviru utvrdjenja. Crkvice su lepe ali sem toga nista nije toliko privuklo moju paznju. Elem jedna stvar je i te kako bila i vise nego vredna penjanja: POGLED koji se pruza odatle!!!! Neprocenjivo vizuelno iskustvo!