The bay view
All of Navarino and Sphacteria island from the upper walls.
**An Ottoman fortress built to guard Navarino Bay, where the battle that made Greece was fought** โ directly above the town of Pylos. The Ottomans built it in **1573**, after Lepanto, to close the southern entrance to **Navarino Bay** โ one of the finest natural harbours in the Mediterranean: a wide bay sheltered by the long island of **Sphacteria**. โ And in this bay, in **1827**, the **Battle of Navarino** was fought: a British-French-Russian fleet destroyed the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet entirely in a matter of hours โ **the battle that made Greek independence a fact**, and the last great naval engagement between sailing ships in history. The fortress today is well restored: walls, towers, a **church that was a mosque**, and a **museum** in its buildings. โ From its walls you see the whole bay and Sphacteria.
All of Navarino and Sphacteria island from the upper walls.
A building converted from an Ottoman mosque inside the fortress.
Displays on the battle and the bay's history inside the fortress buildings.
Pylos, 24001 Messinia, Greece
**A naval intervention that reversed a war Greece was losing.** โ **The situation before it**: the **Greek revolution** had begun in 1821, but by **1827** it was **collapsing**: the Ottomans had called in **Mehmet Ali's** forces from Egypt under his son **Ibrahim Pasha**, and that army was sweeping the Peloponnese and retaking its towns. โ **The intervention**: **Britain, France and Russia** intervened โ for reasons of the balance of power, their own interests and public opinion sympathetic to Greece โ sending a combined fleet **to impose a truce**, not to fight. โ **What happened**: the allied fleet entered Navarino Bay where the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet lay at anchor, **and an exchange of fire** escalated into a full battle on **20 October 1827** โ in which **the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet was destroyed entirely** within hours. โ **The result**: the Ottomans lost the ability to supply their forces by sea, **and Greek independence became a matter of time**. โ **It was the last major naval battle** fought entirely under sail.
**A long island closing the bay, with two famous battles 2,200 years apart.** โ **The geography**: **Sphacteria** is a long narrow strip of island lying across Navarino Bay **and closing it**, leaving two narrow entrances โ **which is what makes the bay an excellent natural harbour**, and a trap at the same time. โ **The first battle โ 425 BC**: in the **Peloponnesian War**, the Athenians besieged a **Spartan garrison** on this island and forced it to **surrender** โ which **shocked the Greek world**, because Spartans did not surrender. **Thucydides** described it in detail, and it is among the war's most famous episodes. โ **The second โ 1827**: the Battle of Navarino, in the same water. โ **What you see today**: the island is **uninhabited**, with **memorials to the Russian, French and British sailors** who died and remains from both periods. โ **It is reached by boat only** from Pylos harbour โ seasonal trips, so ask.
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