The anchorage at Koroni from the fortress

Founded in ancient times, Koroni has served, along with Methoni, as the eyes of the Venetian Republic. A Byzantine fortress was built on the hills above the town in the 6th century AD. It became most famous during the 13th century under Venetian rule when it became the main stopping point for traders, as well as for pilgrims traveling to and from the holy land. Its popularity continued once it passed to the Ottomans in the 16th century.

The town of Koroni with the fortress on the left

For our first night, we treated ourselves to a nice dinner with upscale Greek food at the restaurant Carina, finishing our meal with a glass of aged tsipouro, while gazing up at the fortress.

Koroni is unlike other Greek towns with fortresses, it has homes built right up against the outside walls along the path leading to the fortress gates.

And again

And once inside the fortress walls you quickly realize the interior is still in use. The stone streets are still maintained and there are plots of land, houses still inhabited, and olive groves still tended.

The north gate
Homes and streets within the fortress walls
A tended olive orchard

There is one church that is still in use for funerary processions and a beautiful cemetery next to it. However the really special place is the Monastery of Timi Prodromos.

The entrance to the Monastery of Timi Prodromos

Built in 1918, the monastery is currently inhabited by an order of nuns.

The nuns tend to beautiful gardens and olive orchards. You can buy a number of products made directly within the walls of the monastery. We were excited to find Mirto (made from Myrtle berries), which we had only associated with Sardinia.

Deep inside the walls, there is a path up to the remains of the original castle. The views from the top are amazing – looking down through the village to the anchorage and beyond. From the other side you can look back over the entire monastery.

Coming back down the walkways, there is a path that goes around the base of the fortress. You can see massive remnant chunks of the fortress that have fallen away and the filler that’s been put in place to save the fortress. I had guessed that earthquakes might have caused this damage, but later read that it was caused by an explosion during World War II when the Germans were fleeing (they had used the fortress for much of the war).

Koroni was a really cool little town and we had a great time hanging out there for a few days. We later found out how lucky we were that the winds were in our favor, as other cruising friends had reported bumpy conditions that wouldn’t allow them to get off the boat to visit.