The peninsula ends in a small fortified islet that functions as the castle’s citadel. The islet is in fact a high rock that offers natural protection on its own. It is presently connected to the settlement through a round-arched stone-bridge. Without doubt, both parts of the Lower Castle, the fortified settlement and the islet fort, are contemporary, conforming thus to a common medieval practice.
Two towers survive, a large rectangular one at the center of the enclosure (Central Tower), and a smaller one at its northeast corner. The towers consisted of a cistern at ground level and one or more floors suitable for habitation that are not preserved. The cisterns were plastered with hydraulic coating and were covered with anointed Gothic vault. Both buildings should be dated to the first half of the 13th century.
Source: http://www.kastra.eu
Pano Kastro – Upper Castle
Pano Kastro (meaning “Upper castle”) or Castle of Faneromeni or castle of Kochylos or castle of Gria (meaning “Old lady”) was the largest medieval city-fortress of Andros. It is built on a plateau with very good natural fortification at an elevation 0f 560 meters.
It was not a huge place but it could provide sufficient protection for a population of 1000.
Generally, it is considered a Venetian fortification, although it is possible that a settlemment existed there since the Byzantine period and it was fortified and developed by the Venetians after the 13th century.
Nothing special is known about the history of the city. It never attracted a large population in periods of peace and it must have been abandoned around the 17th century, when the era of piracy was over.
Τοwer of Bistis Mouvelas
It was built in the 17th century by Stamatelos Bistis who had also the nickname “Mouvlelas” which means the representative of the Turkish Kadi. In 1674, Andros was looted by pirates and after that, the rich were looking for safer locations in the interior of the island. So the tower was built after 1674 and certainly before 1696, as it is certain that Bistis was already living there. The house was built over an older medieval tower from the 13th century. In the 19th century, two walls were added at the sides to support the building, thus increasing its volume.
St Peter’s Tower has a base with impressive dimensions. Its walls are made of huge stones, without binder, with a length of more than three meters and thickness of one. The stones are hand-crafted, and the surface of the walls is smooth. Clearly, for security reasons, the entrance door is narrow with a height of 1.3 meters, oriented towards the mountainside. More openings appear around the tower at higher elevations, serving as cloaks and defence positions for archers. To enter someone in the circular room, he had to bend. In this way, the enemy could not perceive the narrow square opening above the entrance that used to access the second floor and could inevitably fall into a trap. A helical staircase gave access to the other floors up to the roof of the tower, from which nowadays 25 stairs made of slate are preserved. The outer wall displays infrastructure elements for additional defence installations.
