A Walk Through Preveza's Historic Centre

Preveza's historic centre is small enough to see on foot in a morning. In three centuries the town passed from the Venetians to the Ottomans in 1701, back to Venice from 1717 to 1797, to Ali Pasha in 1806 and to Greece on 21 October 1912, and each of them left something in these few streets. The lanes of the old market are mostly for people on foot, so park once and walk.

This loop is about 3.4 km and takes about 45 minutes of walking without stops. With visits, allow two hours. Walking distances and times below were measured on OpenStreetMap foot routing and rounded.

Start: the marina

Leave the car at the free car park beside the marina, at the north end of the seafront. Our parking guide lists the alternatives if it is full.

Essentials

Marina Car Park (free)

Free public car park beside Preveza Marina, at the north end of the seafront: the first place to look if you're heading for the waterfront tavernas.

Beside Preveza Marina, north end of the seafront, Preveza

1. The Castle of Agios Andreas

About 250 m, 3–4 minutes from the marina. The largest of Preveza's six surviving castles sits right in the town. The Ottomans built a square fort here after the Treaty of Karlowitz, finished by August 1702. The Venetians cut it to about half its size, faced its walls with stone and turned its mosque into a Catholic church of Saint Andrew, which gave the castle its name. Ali Pasha rebuilt the bastions in 1807–1808.

Walk around the outside and look for the six stone reliefs set into the walls, almost all from the Ottoman period: a monstrous animal chained to a cypress tree, a hunter shooting at a large beast and two dog-like animals on their hind legs. Access to the interior has changed over the years, so check locally whether it is open.

Castles & Monuments

Castle of Agios Andreas

Preveza's largest castle, in the middle of town: built by the Ottomans in 1702, enlarged by the Venetians and rebuilt by Ali Pasha in 1807–1808.

Preveza town centre, a few minutes' walk from the harbour

2. Panagia ton Xenon

About 240 m, 3 minutes. The Venetian Provveditore Generale da Mar Zorzi Grimani granted this church to the sea captain Liberio Agusti and his heirs in 1737–1740, and it was built around 1740. An earthquake in December 1869 left it close to collapse, and it was rebuilt from its foundations in 1872. The marble inscription above the south door records the rebuilding. It is a timber-roofed, single-nave basilica in the Ionian Baroque style of the nearby islands.

Churches & Monasteries

Panagia ton Xenon (Dormition of the Virgin)

A parish church of the historic centre, first built around 1740 by a Venetian-era sea captain and rebuilt in 1872 after an earthquake, in the Ionian Baroque style.

Historic centre, Preveza

3. The Clock Tower and Agios Charalambos

About 130 m, 2 minutes. The landmark of the historic centre. A marble inscription says the tower was built in 1792 with contributions from the citizens, under the Venetian provveditore Alessandro Semitecolo. It is about 12.5 m high. On its south face, find the carved coat of arms of Venetian Preveza: the word ΝΙΚΟΠΟΛΕΩΣ is still legible, but the dove at its centre has been chiselled away. A vertical sundial is on the same face. The first bell, cast in Venice in 1791, was taken to Ioannina on Ali Pasha's orders around 1808 and still hangs in the clock tower on that city's central square.

Castles & Monuments

Venetian Clock Tower of Preveza

The stone clock tower of 1792 in Preveza's old market, paid for by the townspeople under the Venetians. Ali Pasha took its first bell to Ioannina.

Old market street (Ethnikis Antistaseos), next to Agios Charalambos church, Preveza

Against the tower stands Agios Charalambos, the metropolitan church. Its brotherhood was founded on 23 May 1731 by decree of the Venetian Provveditore Marc'Antonio Diedo, with 47 founding members, and the church was built before 1734. Only two surviving churches in Preveza are older. Both churches on this walk are working parish churches: visit outside services and dress modestly.

Churches & Monasteries

Agios Charalambos (Metropolitan Church)

Preveza's metropolitan church, built around 1731 under Venetian rule, beside the clock tower in the heart of the historic centre.

Historic centre, by the clock tower, Preveza

4. Giannis Moralis Municipal Gallery

About 450 m, 6 minutes, west through the lanes. The gallery is in the Athanasiadis House, a 19th-century town house that belonged to the teacher Athanasios Athanasiadis and later served as an inn. In 2010 the Municipality made it the municipal art gallery, named after the painter Giannis Moralis, who lived in Preveza from 1922 to 1927 as a boy. There is no permanent collection: it opens for temporary exhibitions, so ask the Municipality what is on.

5. Agios Ioannis Chrysostomos

About 510 m, 7 minutes. The first church on this site was built around 1720. It was badly damaged when Preveza was sacked in 1798 and repaired around 1800. Its owner was from Ithaca and counted as a British subject, so the British subjects of Preveza, including all Ionian Islanders, worshipped here. That is why it is the only church marked in Preveza on a British Admiralty chart of 1830. Today's domed basilica, completed in 1974, is the fourth church on the spot.

Churches & Monasteries

Agios Ioannis Chrysostomos

A parish church on a site used since about 1720, once the church of the British subjects of Preveza; the present domed basilica was completed in 1974.

Preveza town

6. Back along the waterfront

About 640 m, 9 minutes, to the Sailors' Monument at the south end of the seafront. From the statue, walk north along the water, about 1.15 km and 15 minutes, back to the marina. This seafront by the port is where the free Preveza Jazz Festival is held every year; see our events guide.

Longer: south to the castles and the beach

From the Sailors' Monument it is about 680 m, 9 minutes, to the Castle of Agios Georgios, Ali Pasha's fort of 1807, and about 430 m more, 6 minutes, to the town beach, Kiani Akti. About 1.1 km further west along the coast, 15 minutes, is Pantokrator Castle. It has been closed inside since 2017, but the sunset from the shore around it is one of the best in town.

Longer: north to the Maritime Museum

The Municipal Maritime Museum is about 1.2 km, 16 minutes, north of the marina. Set up in 2002, it is about Preveza's naval battles, with a large table map of matchstick ship models and a historical film. It keeps no fixed hours, so arrange your visit with the Municipality first.

Tips for the walk

• In summer, walk in the morning or the early evening, and carry water.
• For more ideas after the walk, see things to do in Preveza and the best time to visit.

Sources

• Wikipedia (el): Castle of Agios Andreas
• Wikipedia (el): Panagia ton Xenon, Preveza
• Wikipedia (el): Clock Tower of Preveza
• Wikipedia (el): Agios Charalambos, Preveza
• Wikipedia (el): Agios Ioannis Chrysostomos, Preveza
• visitpreveza.gr: Giannis Moralis Municipal Gallery
• discoverpreveza.gr: Municipal Maritime Museum
• Wikipedia: St. George's Castle, Preveza
• Hellenic Ministry of Culture: Pantokrator Castle restoration
• Preveza Jazz Festival
• OpenStreetMap foot routing (FOSSGIS)