Kos Town Castle

Kos is the major town on the island of Kos. To avoid confusion guidebooks differentiate between Kos Island and Kos Town. Kos Town is a great place for a relaxing walk.

The white building which you see in this picture is the Government House. It was built in 1928 in Venetian style during Italian occupation of Kos Island. Just behind it you can see gray walls of Castle of Neratzia. It is difficult to photograph the castle from the ground in an interesting way but the photos from the air allow appreciating great location of this structure.

Castle of Neratzia was built by the Ioannites Knights on a small island on the south side of the harbour of Kos. After the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, were chased away from the Holy Grounds they ended up in Rhodes and organized the area into a defensive system whose aim was the unhindered transfer of the pilgrims and the visitors to the Holy Grounds. The dangers of the Ottoman attacks and the attacks of the pirates made the Castle of Neratzia one of the most important bastions of the western civilization. Together with the Castle of Petroumiou on the opposite side of the Asia Minor coast, they controlled the narrow sea passing between Kos and Bodrum (Alikarnassou). The first written testimony of the existence of the castle is made in 1431.