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THE KASTRO
The capital, Antiparos or Kastro, stands around the original nucleus of a medieval castle, which was build around 1440. This is the time at which the island came into the hands of Maria Somaripa, who married the nobleman Lorentano. He brought farmers to Antiparos at his own expense, and built the castle near the sea. After Lorentano, Domenico Pisani took over in 1480, but the Lorentano family returned in 1537. The same year the castle fell into the hands of Barbarossa. The island passed completely into the ottoman empire in 1556. From 1770-1774 Antiparos was held by the Russians, as was Paros. In 1794 a gang of Maiots and Cephallonias slaughtered the inhabitants and the island was deserted for a time. In 1821 the island took an active part in the revolution against the Turks. Sited at the end of the highstreet, the kastro is a rectangular structure with houses lining the inside walls. In the years since it has been painted white, the top storey has gone, and windows and doors have been let into the outside wall. As a result it's hard to recognize as a castle on the outside. On the south however there is an unpainted Gothich archway, the original single doorway in the walls. This is still the only entrance nowadays. Once inside it's better to imagine what it must have looked like. You will find a nice courtyard, the old houses, a pretty little church, some walls in it's original state, and the old well in the middle of it all and of all the tranquillety. |