CASTLE
OF IOANNINA
Most of today's castle
of Ioannina was built during Turkish rule and within
it there are older, Byzantine buildings. Inside the
the castle there are two acropolis. In the north-east
Acropolis the Royal estates of the Byzantine sovereigns
were built. Today at the top,
Aslan Pashas mosque dominates (1618).
The
Second Acropolis, to the south-east is known as Its-Kale,
meaning interior fortress. At the centre and at the
place where in the 19th century Ali Pasha serai (residence)
was, nowadays one finds the Byzantine Museum and near
it, the Fetihe Mosque (1795)
and Ali-Pashas tomb.
Inside
the castle between the houses of the area is found
Sufari Sarai (a riding
school of Ali Pasha), the Turkish
library, the Jewish synagogue,
the ruins of a Byzantine bath, the house of Pasha
Kalos (in the castle walls).
Evidence
of the Byzantine Past are expressed in the so-called
tower of Voimoundos in the south-east acropolis and
the Tower of Thomas, to the right of the central entrance
of the castle.
