This one was high on my list for a while and to be frank this is my second attempt. During my previous one the gravel roads I had to take were too muddy and slippery and since I was on my bike I decided to leave it for the next time I'll be with my 4X4 car. The location is already on pinmaple but here's a Gmaps embedded for your convenience which I am afraid won't work unless you open it on the Travelfeed link above:
As you can see in the following picture it's a sweet day, the farmers roads are dry now and I get the first distant view to the tower:
You've got an eye for detail? Then you might have spotted that plane top left which just took off from the nearby Athens airport. The scenery around is a bit weird. Not in a bad way though. I mean, there's no traffic around so you can hear birds singing and other good stuff nature provides only to be interrupted by the sound of planes taking off. Visually kinda weird too with so many cultivated fields around and this medieval thing poping up in the middle acting like a time machine next to our contemporary airport. It intrigues me to approach it without further delay so here I am:
We don't have many of them around hence it kinda looks unreal as a finding around Athens. This tower was built during the 13thB.C. from the Burgundian De la Roche family (not the only one they built around). Due to its height it also served the purpose of a watchtower therefore able to warn people for upcoming invaders or pirates. There used to be a network of similar towers around this part of the region so that one could transfer the warnings to another for defence.
The one I am visiting is the tallest of them with 3 floors and 18 ramparts, probably also the house of an important member of the De la Roche family. With a careful look one can find ancient marble bits used on it. The sun is a friend of mine from this side so I keep picturing it as it is still standing proud after so many centuries:
The moon has a dark side and so does this so time to see the tower's one:
At this point I really like how the morning haze meets the smoke from farmers burning trimmed branches:
As you saw in the previous pictures there's no straight way to enter and my only way in is this window:
I wish it was less bare inside but to be honest I am not surprised:
That opening you see on the first floor was once the way to visit the rest ones but the ladder is now gone and as you can see someone placed this metal grid to prevent access:
Some guys come here with spray cans:
Here's the ground floor window looking North East:
And the one looking South East witch is also where I came from:
Here's a video from the spot allowing you to get a better idea of the vibes and ambience of it, at least as long as you ignore the fact that I moronically missed that my fingers got on camera for a short while (sorry, blinded by the sun :) ):