The gem of the Archipelago
The settlement of Kastro is located three and a half kilometers east of Apollonia and is built upon a small, steep and rugged peninsula, 85 meters above sea level. It is incessantly inhabited since the protogeometric period (1.100 BC), and up to 1836 it was the capital of Sifnos. The toponym “Kastro” (castle in Greek) comes from the particular spatial and architectural structure of the settlement that reminds that of a Castle.
The first line of the continuous two-storey or three-storey houses is an impenetrable medieval exterior wall, where the only entrances to the interior are the five old galleries or “loggias”. Very few houses have courtyards here, while the narrow streets and the absence of squares are indicative of the effort to save space.
Once you pass through loggia and enter the settlement, you feel that you have travelled back in time to another era. The stories and the archaeological treasures are endless and they let the imagination fly. Without exaggeration, the castle is an outdoor museum.
An important site is the picturesque chapel of Seven Martyrs (Eftamartiros). It is built on a rock at the eastern side of the settlement and every time waters are rough it seems as if it emerges from the foamy sea.
To the south of the hill of the Castle, we find the ancient port of “Seralia”. This toponym owes its name to the Turkish word “Saray” meaning manor or palace, due to the majestic buildings found there during the ottoman rule. Since antiquity, Seralia was the first port of Sifnos where the trade of goods took place up to 1950.
