Old fortress Lautra

On Kitnos in the port of Lautra there were many people. The island has a convenient location on the Aegean Sea yachting routes and there are plenty of yachtsmen. But when we talk about Lautra, we hear the same thing - a boring village, yes, a hot spring on the beach and nothing more interesting. Only to take a break and sit in a cafe.

Almost no one knows that an hour walk away (you can drive up) is an old abandoned city-fortress, a sort of mini Monenvassia. Built at the same time, when the population was hiding from enemies on inaccessible cliffs.

The fortress is located north-west of Lautra on the west shore of the island. At first you walk or drive along the highway, then you have to walk along a narrow trail. At first, you can't even believe that it will lead to the place - the slopes of the mountain on which the town stands are too steep. The mountain you can see from afar, but the buildings and ruins merge in color with the rocks, only one white spot is visible - it is the functioning Church of the Holy Trinity, built into the tower of the fortress. The trail goes over the steep cliffs and leads to the entrance gate.

The mountain was small in size, but it seemed to have a lot of people living there, so all suitable surfaces were built up. The city was surrounded by several rows of walls (like a fortress on an island in Orhanio Bay opposite Marti Marina in Turkey), which were almost invisible in the photo, and we could not take a good picture because it was better not to go into some places without insurance, and we did not take any ropes.

In the center are the ruins of another temple, inside which are the remains of very old frescoes. You can see that even before, in ancient times, there was a settlement here - in some of the buildings there are typical details of ancient buildings.