Kastro 🏰 Grigorakides Tower view

Remains of an old fort on the ridge above Porto Kagio, with great views along the trail, or a short off-trail hike to the summit.
The fortress complex of Grigorakides is characterized as a small castle. It was built in 1782 in Ageranos, 6 km north of Scoutari and 4 km southeast of the castle of Passava, between two small plains, Kambos and Vathi.
Probably the founder is the cousin of Janetos Gregorakis (or Janibey) and later Mani Antonybee's Bey (1803-1810). Another view mentions that Antonibegis Grigorakis is the renovator of the complex, after it was destroyed by the Turks in 1807, when all the forts founded by the then-exiled Janibekis Grigorakis were destroyed.
The Castle,like all Mani castles, did not have the concept of a classic feudal tower where a single stronghold was intended to cover the defense of a wider area, part of a settlement consisting of three equivalent complexes of the same family, both of which survive. A branch of the Grigorakides, the Koutsogligorians, settled at the end of the 18th - early 19th century, led by Captain Antonis Grigorakis (1757-1822). He was the 5th Bey of Mani and held his post with the help of his five captain-in-laws, his two daughters, and Kostadis Zervakos and Theodoros Grigorakis, who succeeded him as 6th and 7th Bey, respectively.
The Antonebei complex is simple, adapted to the Mani landscape. The fort occupies a space of 1,100m² and the stone gate to the interior has an irregular octagonal shape. It is combined with a passageway and a loggia, with turret and rifles.
The tower is 16 meters high, with the main spaces above and the auxiliaries below, as in other towers in Mani. It consists of a covered roof with a loft, two main floors. The first floor was accessed by a fortified staircase leading to a flat ladder with a movable bridge. A wooden corner staircase led to the upper floor, which had six windows and a fireplace.
Characteristic at the top of the tower are the "stonemasons", ie windows built on top of it and outside the perimeter of the tower. They have holes left, right and down, facilitating defense.
Stone-throwers were used to guard the tower. At the base of each stonemason there is an anthropomorphic decoration on a porch. The bee symbolized the power of the family and the castle.
Two stone belts across the base and top of the parapet, and the arched stone slabs with the window frames give the imposing and austere look of the tower.
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