Párga

Our anchorage in the western bay at Párga was dominated by the Venetian castle on the high promontory to our east. It had enough shelter from the strong afternoon north-westerly wind but was a bit rolly, partly because of the water-ski speedboats zipping backwards and forwards and partly from the wind-driven swell refracting around the western headland of the bay.

Having started at 0830 and finally anchoring at 1710, we had had a reasonably long sailing day, however, we knew that we would be setting off promptly in the morning and both of us really wanted to go ashore to explore the castle and the town.

We took the dinghy ashore, leaving it at the corner of the beach and climbed up to the ridgeline which had several restaurants with balconies making the most of the views back over the bay. We were delighted that the castle was still open and so we climbed even higher up onto the battlements for our own view across the anchorage. The castle was slightly overgrown and so it felt as if you were exploring new territory as you picked your way through the narrow paths in the undergrowth. Up on the battlements and towers, the ruined walls (without barriers) dropped down sheer several hundred feet to the rocks below; how refreshing to be trusted that we would explore the castle without throwing ourselves off the battlements, in comparison with the H&S mollycoddling we would be subjected to back in the UK.

Párga’s history is as much linked with the Ionian Islands as it is with the mainland. From the 1300s to the 1700s the port was the only Venetian stronghold on this part of the mainland, in addition to the islands they controlled. It was important for trade and so the Venetians built the castle with its 8 towers at the beginning of the 15^th century. It was destroyed by the Ottomans in 1571 and then rebuilt by the Venetians the following year after the naval battle of Lepanto. Venetian control of Párga was followed by French, then Russian-Turkihs and then British control. In 1819 the town was sold by Thomas Maitland, the British High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, to Ali Pasha of Ioannina putting it back into Ottoman control. Ali Pasha enhanced the castle considerably constructing a large polygonal bastion inside the castle which enclosed a citadel. This citadel complex included bathhouses, cisterns and a mosque and replaced large parts of the earlier defences and buildings. As well as changing the castle, Ali Pasha also demolished and rebuilt large parts of the town. The Turks remained dominant in Párga until the exchange of populations in 1923 when they were replaced by Orthodox Greek refugees from the area around Constantinople. The last Turks were killed or driven out at the end of WWII and their apparently spectacular mosque and minaret razed to the ground in the 1950s.

Today Párga is a very popular holiday location for the Greeks and, as we climbed over the ridgeline between the two bays, we could see why. It is very picturesque and from our vantage point we had great views down over the town and the pretty island in the bay.

Fine mansions, rooftop restaurants, narrow streets with low archways and tunnels all provide a definite charm but it was very busy. We have not seen so many tourists anywhere else.

However, we went with the flow and, after climbing all over the castle and exploring the town, we had dinner at a lovely restaurant with a balcony overlooking the pier and island.

As well as a very good dinner we enjoyed the sunset views over the bay and up towards the town and the floodlit castle. It was a great way to end the day; all we had to do then was make sure that, in the dark, we could find the dinghy on the beach and then get back to BV.