George S.
Google
Wonderful monument, magnificent view. The ascent may be somewhat demanding, but both the site and the scenery are very well worth the effort for those with love for antiquities and with adventurous nature.
If you prefer easy routes, the lower town in itself has so much to offer that you may just as well stay there and enjoy a refreshment or go shopping.
The upper town, though mostly in ruins today, was among the most impregnable 'and thus safe- fortifications of the Middle Ages. Its natural defenses are insurmountable and obvious. The human touch is also decisive.
Walls and ramparts were built all along the top of the rock, ensuring that the defenders would retain the advantage even if some incredibly skilled hikers made it up to the top from some unexpected route.
Cisterns -along with a water collection network- were built in abundance and were maintained attentively, ensuring an ample supply of water.
The city never fell by attack. An almost four year long siege forced the city to surrender in the 1250's to the crusader state of the principality of Achaea, and even in this case, under quite favorable terms.
Even this mild subjugation lasted for less than a decade, as the city was given back to the Byzantines for the release of the captured Latin nobility after their disastrous defeat in the battle of Pelagonia in 1259.
So, while walking along the shrubbery-strewn ruins, allow yourself to envisage the city as it was. If you can not reconstruct the walls with your mind's eye, you'll be missing much of what this magnificent place has to offer... but even then, you still have the view to enjoy, which is well worth the effort in itself.
