Heading towards the east, at an hour’s walk from the town’s limits, one comes to the castle which sits upon a rock, at an altitude of 1100m, offering a wonderful view to the town of Kalavrita.

In 1205, the Francs chose Kalavrita as the capital of one of the 12 baronies in which they had divided Moreas. This barony was governed by the de Tournay. It was they who built the castle which took on the name Orias or Oreas (beautiful) later on in 1463, when the beautiful Aikaterine Paleologou threw herself off the rock to avoid being captured by the Turks.

A substantial part of the castle’s ruins has withstood the trial of time.

It was against this castle, which Turks were occupying, that the Greeks fired their first canon shot marking the beginning of the Greek revolution against the Turks, on the night of 21-3-1821.