Saint George’s Fortress – Kefalonia
On the top of a hill, close to Peratata village, 5 kms from Argostoli, hulks St George’s Fortress, which locals simply call “The Castle”. There are references about it back to the 12th century, but today’s form is dated at the 16th century. Its area covers 16000 m2 and the perimeter of the walls is 600 m. Its form is multiangle and consists of three parts:
The external walls, the petal formed yard and an exalting pick at the centre. During the Venetian Domination, it used to be the capital of the island with a population of 15000 people inside and at the surroundings.In the castle were military, administrative, pubblic and trade buildings.
Today you can see observatories, the ruins of a bridge dated at the French Domination and a catholic church.There’s also a tunnel ending at Koutavos in Argostoli which was used in case of emergency and evacuation of the castle.
The castle lost its strategical meaning and importance in the 16th century when, because of the urgent need to protect the coastal areas, the capital was transferred to Argostoli in 1757.
Peratata, Kefalonia
Lat: 38.12807521211548
Long: 20.567779541015625