METHONI CITADEL

This 10-hectare citadel (Κάστρο Μεθώνης/Kastro Methonis) is one of the most beautiful in Greece. Named Modone by the Venetians, it occupies the Agios Nikolaos peninsula, north of Methoni Bay, and is extended by the fortified islet of Bourdzi, which offers fine views of the uninhabited island of Sapientza (9 km²) located 1.6 km to the south. The peninsula was probably occupied by the ancient city of Pedasus and became an important Byzantine port, before being taken by the Champagne lord Geoffroi de Villehardouin in 1204, who ceded it to the Venetians two years later. From 1209 onwards, the Venetians undertook major works to turn it into a fortified town, a staging post for their galleys and a trading post. The citadel fell to the Ottomans after a long and bloody siege on August 9, 1500. The future doge Francesco Morosini recaptured it in 1686, and Methoni remained in Venetian hands until 1715. During the War of Independence, the citadel served as headquarters, first for the Egyptians allied with the Ottomans, then for the French who came to support the Greek insurgents.

In the footsteps of Chateaubriand. The moat is crossed by a narrow, 14-arch stone bridge built by General Maison's troops in 1828 and flanked by the ^15th-century Loredan (left) and Bembo bastions. After an initial courtyard, you enter the vast esplanade where the town once stood, destroyed during the siege of 1500. On the left stands the "Morosini column", probably adorned with a St. Mark's lion. On the right, along the ramparts, the conical structure of the "Pyramid" was the powder magazine of the Ottoman garrison. But the only intact building is the church of Metamorfosi tou Sotiros ("of the Transfiguration"): a former Catholic church converted into a mosque, then into a Greek Orthodox place of worship. We then discover the remains of Ottoman baths, cisterns and a mosque. To the south, two 16 m-high towers guard the 70 m-long stone dike leading to the islet of Bourdzi (name derived from the Arabic bordj meaning "fort"). This was fortified by the Ottomans in the ^16th century, with a two-storey octagonal tower covered by a dome that offers a superb panorama at sunset from August onwards. It's easy to imagine yourself in the footsteps of Chateaubriand. Arriving from Trieste, the writer disembarked here, alone, on Sunday August 10, 1806, for his only short trip to Greece, from the Peloponnese to Athens. This journey was chronicled and extensively romanticized in Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem (1811).