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CASTLES Touring Naxos Island you will realise that
the island has a unique nobility. The island owe a part of
this beauty in the existence of the Towers that was built
the period of the Venetian domination.
We watch the castles, during our tour to the town and to the
villages and all of the castles - even and those that bring
the ravages of time, maintain something from their old glamour.
The imposing buildings constituted the residences of the sovereigns
that managed the island.
It deserves to visit them, to walk in their yard and to leave
your imagination to transport you in that years. When the
pirates threatened the residents and the imposing impregnable
castles provided protection to the people. That years were
difficult but also were romantic too. The sufferings, the
happiness, the cry and the laugh of the rich and the poor
people and of the sovereigns and the villagers, all the past
of the island remains alive in the castles!
The castle in the heart of Chora goes back to the era of Venetian
rule (1204-1537 AD), and although it is preserved in almost
its original form it is inhabited to this day.
Passing through the 3 doors that lead to the castle we let
time lead us to a different era, where the noble mansions
with the emblems in their entrances we reigning, the countless
"sokakia" (narrow pathways), the cheery white-painted countryards,
a world of grandeur. From the seven towers of the castle only
the tower of Krispi survived (tower of Glezos) which was home
of the last dukes of the island. In 1207 Frankish rule was
established in the Aegean. The Venetian Markos II Sanoudos
built the fortress of Chora in Naxos with circuit towers,
one of which, the Glezos tower (Crispi) is still preserved.
Over the main entrance to the tower is the coat-of arms of
the Crispi family.
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