GYFTOKASTRO
It is situated outside the village of Arla in the Municipality of Olenia. T is also called the castle of Arla. Nowadays, it is the best preserved frank castle in the Prefecture. It is polygonal and there is a water tank in the middle.
SANTAMERI
Santameri, one of the most picturesque villages of Western Achaia on Skolis mountain, is where you will find the ruins of the Castle of the Frank Domination.
The castle was called Saint Omer and it was built Frank Flemish aristocrats of Thivas in 1273 or in 1311. It has been associated with very important people. Tradition has it that the wife of Konstantinos Paleologos died here. In our days, one can find ruins of the walls, the tower, churches and other buildings, and of the post-byzantine temple called "Virgin Mary’s pit".
Around the castle featured a large city during its peak and it had 1,500 things. The Byzantines had tried many times to siege the castle without escaping. According to an Aragonese chronicle, a large battle between the Byzantines and Navarrians, in which ruled the castle at the time, the Byzantines had around 1,500 troops battled and died and lost 500 horses.
It was handed over to the emperor Constantine XI Palaeologus in 1429 along with Chlemoutsi, as he married Theodora (Magdalene Caroline) Tocco, daughter or Leonardo Tocco. Theodora died the following year due to childbirth and ws buried in Santomeri. After many years, it was reverted to Mystras.
The Turks sieged the castle in 1460 and promised its inhabitants to keep and leave that they owned, it did not hold the treaty and many inhabitants were killed and were sold to slavery.
Folk traditions
A tradition said where there were two fairies, when their father died, they kept two castles. The beautiful one was given the castle of Chlemoutsi and the ugly one was given the castle of in Santameri. The beauty did not have any children but shameful that he comforted that he brought the beauty to their children in which they were shameful. Somewhere, the brother asked to bring a child, they bring the smallest girl. Later, she changed her mind and went to asked again, the relative did not open. Her mother asked many times and again the relative did not open to their tears and its wailing. At the end, she decides to go back to her other children but on her way, she is so angry that runs down everything and her weep is heard to the nether world.
Source: el.wikipedia.org
