The first “welcome” to the visitor of Lefkada is said by the large walls that he encounters on his right,
as soon as he reaches the floating bridge and prepares to enter the island for good.
He stops there on the right and listens to them talking to him.
These walls carry stories of centuries and have a name, that of Agia Mavra.
In the distant 1300, when the island had been given as a dowry to Ioannis Orsini a few years before
and came into contact with the west for the first time,
the first small fort was created in the place of the current castle which was to change its form and grow in the following centuries
and to transform into the strong and often impregnable castle-guardian of the island.
The castle took the name of Agia Mavra (and Agios Timotheus), which some say is due to the Andigai of Walter Briennius
who brought the cult of the Saint from their home town of the same name in France and others that it pre-existed as a name in the location.
The name “Agia Mavra” was preserved for the castle and the city that developed within it, until the 17th century,
while many westerners still call the island of Lefkada by this name.
The castle quickly flourished, was modified many times over the centuries and by conqueror
and took its current form in the second half of the 16th century by the Turkish, then conquerors of Lefkada.
Honoring the name of Agia Mavra, there was a magnificent church in the castle
until 1810 when it was destroyed by the attacks of the English.
Today a humble, beautiful chapel inside the castle continues to honor the Saint and the Lefkadians honor it with fervor every May 3rd.
The castle is open to visitors and recently joined a program highlighting its ruins, paths and remaining buildings.
Its entrance is on the west side and its routes take the visitor through history and weave stories of conquerors
and pirates that are coming to life in the imagination of dreamers next to each of its stones.
From its walls, you will admire the city and the mountainous mass of the island that spreads out to the south,
the wild mountains of Akarnania and Epirus to the east and north and you will enjoy the routes of the sailors on the channel.
History embraces the island of Lefkada and puts it to sleep and wakes it up with stories.
Because Lefkada is a magical place worth getting to know.
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