Platamon Castle

The castle was built between 1204 and 1222 by a Lombard crusader lord on a hill controlling the narrow coastal corridor between Olympus and the sea, the historic gateway from Thessaly into Macedonia. Its enceinte encloses about seven and a half acres, with towers, a fortified gate and an inner citadel dominated by an octagonal keep some sixteen metres high, unusual in Greece and still standing to its full height. Inside the walls are the ruins of a Byzantine church and cisterns, and the ramparts look down over the beaches of Platamonas, out to the Thermaic Gulf and up to the Olympus massif behind. The castle is used for summer concerts and festivals, when the enclosure fills for evening performances.

History

The castle hill was occupied in pre-Christian times by the city of Herakleion, as a stretch of Hellenistic wall shows; around 360 BC Skylax of Karyanda called it the first Macedonian city beyond the river Peneios. In 430 BC the Athenians took the place to control the Thermaic Gulf on the way to their possessions in Chalkidiki, since the main north-south route ran past the hill, and at the beginning of the 3rd century BC the city and its port were destroyed (Wikipedia, Platamon Castle).

What to look for

• The octagonal keep - a sixteen-metre tower at the heart of the citadel.
• The curtain walls - towers and gates enclosing the hilltop.
• The coastal view - beaches, the gulf and Olympus from the ramparts.
• The summer festival - concerts staged inside the walls in July and August.

When to go

Spring and autumn for climbing the walls in comfort; the hill is exposed. Summer evenings work well if a concert is on, and the site stays open later than usual then.

What to expect

The interior is largely open ground with ruins rather than restored buildings, and interpretation is limited. The approach road is steep and parking near the gate is tight. It is a short visit, an hour or so, unless a performance is scheduled.

Nearby

Palaios Panteleimonas sits in the hills above; Dion and Olympus lie north.

Key facts