The castle at Ioannina was built around the 1300’s, and very soon the city established itself as a centre for culture and the silver trade during the middle ages. It also became the home and headquarters of the infamous Ali Pasha in the late 1780’s.
With his Albanian mercenary army, Ali Pasha was the regional ruler on behalf of the Ottomans for southern Albania and NW Greece. He was brutal and also a rogue, in that while working for the Ottomans, he sometimes worked with the French against the Ottomans. Together with this, he also had a protection scheme going to enhance his own pocket by offering protection to small villages and towns.
In 1820 he bit off a bit too much and Constantinople sent an army to teach him a lesson. They wanted to take him back to Constantinople so he could explain himself but fearing execution he barricaded himself, his family and his loyal soldiers within Ioannina castle. After a siege of around 100 days he was eventually shot and the Turkish soldiers cut off his head to take back home. His remains were put into a tomb outside the mosque inside the castle, and although the body is no longer there his tomb still exists, protected by a wrought iron cage. Why is he important? Well, it was his downfall that led to the struggle for Greece to become an independent nation and rid the Ottomans from their country.
Ioannina is a old busy place, but the old town adjacent to the castle still has lots of charm and character. And surprisingly, while I was visiting the castle, there were only two other people visiting. I think people are sometimes easily attracted to the big places, whereas small places tend to get forgotten about.
