The castle
Τhe
fortified
walls of Platamonas enclose a hilltop area of 20 acres.
The enclosure is polygonal, reinforced by towers at the angles between sides.
Inside the castle a second wall surrounds the citadel, at the highest point of
the hill, with an imposing central octagonal tower that rises to 16m., protected
by a rampart. The tower has three floors and a basement used as a cistern for
rainwater collection. Two vertical walls divide each floor into four rooms.
Access to different floor levels is gained via a staircase built on the outside
wall of the tower.
The arched windows and pointed lintels over the castle gates attest to its
composite origin. The main gate is a square tower located on the southeast side
of the outer fortifications; outside this, in the space opposite the gate, are
traces of buildings belonging to a bulwark or an earlier phase. The citadel can
also be accessed via a gate in the northeast section of the inner
fortifications. Both typological and morphological characteristics of the walls
at Platamonas, built of small irregular stones, are a combination of Byzantine,
Frankish and Islamic elements.
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