arrrgh

During the middle ages the Mediterranean Sea and its islands were ruled by pirates. Sure, officially, you could trace a timeline of which specific lands/peeps ruled each of these islands, ranging from Turkish bandits to Greek overlords to Spanish kings. But in practice, the biggest influence on the lives and habits of the Greeks living around here were pirates. They would jump from island to island, looting, pillaging, you know, doin pirate stuff. But the island peeps got smart: they built castles at the highest part of the islands, for a couple of reasons. One, it would provide a lookout spot so that the villages would have some advance warning before the bandits made a landing. Two, it provided a sanctuary for that entire section of the island to flee to and barricade themselves against the attack. Many of these castles are still standing, including the one in Akrotiri. Mostly they serve as semi-functional warehouses for the villages, but the Greeks take great care in maintaining that reminder of their past, and often keep them as close as possible to the condition they existed way back when. Sometimes they add a Greek flag at the top, or shine a lone blazing light upon the castle at night, appearing as the eternal watchman. Most interesting to me is the ancient method of keeping the pirates away: unsurprisingly, the external walls are constructed at sleek angles and with overhangs to prevent possible climbers. Also, there are strategically placed holes in the overhangs around the front entrance, supposedly because the most frequent method of protecting the entranceway was to pour boiling hot oil on top of whoever was trying to enter. In Akrotiri this castle is surrounded by other abandoned buildings; you can walk directly underneath these imposing holes in complete silence. At night the blazing light illuminates the structure while the wind whistles round the narrow alleyways. During the day you can often walk up within its abandoned structure and look down upon the sea, imagining that the notification of the island’s imminent attack was completely in your hands, studying the shores which brought constant threats to this tiny island.