| Ironcastle | Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is the small town (approx. 10.000 inhabitants), where I did my military duty back in 1995/1996.

It is located around Serres town and closed to the Bulgarian border.

Here I stood on a hill, from where you have a good overview over Sindiki Province. Sidirokastro's history reaches a long way back in time. There are Palaeolithic ruins here, and references to the area are found in Homer and Herodotus. Its ancient inhabitants migrated to Sidirokastro from the island of Limnos. The area's first inhabitants were of the Sintian tribe, after which Sintiki Province is named. Sintiki is one of the provinces of the Serres Prefecture, of which Sidirokastro is the capital. A landmark in the area's history is the 1014 AD decisive battle in the course of the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars that took place at Sintiki's Roupel (battle of Kleidion), to the north-west of Sidirokastro. The Byzantine army led by Emperor Basil II defeated the Bulgarians under the command of Emperor Samuil. Basil II blinded 14,000 Bulgarian soldiers after the battle and sent them back to Bulgaria. After this atrocious act, Basil II and went down in history as Voulgaroktonos, the "Bulgar Slayer".

On September 20, 1383, Sidirokastro was overtaken by Ottoman forces and remained under their rule for 529 years. Its name was changed to "Demir Hisar". In 1912, Sidirokastro was captured by the Bulgarians under general Georgi Todorov. The Greek army took Sidirokastro on September 21, 1918. In April 1941, after the surrender of the Roupel stronghold and the German army's invasion of Greece, the Bulgarian army recaptured Sidirokastro. The Bulgarians left in 1944 and Sidirokastro's control returned to Greece.

Have a nice day
Saki

bema, ChrysK, vasilpro, PaulVDV, SNOOP_Chan, isabela_sor, holmertz, Cretense, Didi, oana79, stelli has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

SNOOP_Chan (808) 2009-05-02 4:51

Wow, the landscape is amazing! The small town has as i see two churches very close to each other. That tells me a lot about people's faith in those places. tfs!

isabela_sor (41913) 2009-05-02 4:52 [Comment]

Show Comment

PaulVDV (5052) 2009-05-02 4:54

Hello Sakis,
Very well composed picture with the trees at both sides of the foreground and the rock leading our eyes to the beautiful village.
Good management of light and shadow. Beautiful colour contrasts between the white walls and the red roofs and between the green and the yellow fields.
Best regards, Paul

vasilpro (8047) 2009-05-02 5:16

Γεια σου Σάκη,
Όμορφη άποψη της πόλης με ωραία χρώματα και πολύ καλό φωτισμό.
Σε χαιρετώ, Βασίλης.

ChrysK (495) 2009-05-02 5:29

Hello Sakis,
Very effective perspective in this shot and you've captured the play of early morning lights and shadows well. The colours of the houses are sharp and clear and provide a nice contrast to the colours of the landscape.
TFS,
Chrystyna

vasileios (104) 2009-05-02 7:03

hi saki.
poli wraia apopsi tou sidirokastrou. omorfo fws.
kali sinexeia vasilis.

bema (8463) 2009-05-02 7:43

Hallo Sakis,

wunderschöner Blick auf diese Ortschaft/Stadt, mit ihrer wechselvollen Geschichte, wie bei so vielen anderen Orten in Griechenland auch..

schönes Wochenende, Gruß Bernd

holmertz (9296) 2009-05-02 12:06

Hello Sakis,
An excellent view of this nice and interesting looking town. A well cropped picture with warm, nicely saturated colours. Thanks for sharing.
Gert

bostankorkulugu (33334) 2009-05-02 14:44

"demir hisar" is the right word, meaning the iron fortress of course... it looks like a lovely little town to me... you will take me there when i go to macedonia?...

hugs

krkt

wolf38 (12513) 2009-05-02 21:34

Hello Sakis. A fantastic motive. Composition, light and colors are in the best way. Very beautifully. Best regards, Wolfgang.

Cretense (54906) 2009-05-03 2:40

Geia sou Saki!

Poly omorfi fotografia apo to Sidirokastro, epelexes ena exairetiko POV, pou dinei mia yperoxi "plastikotita" sto topio, dimiourgontas ena entyposiako "anaglyfo". Apsogo kadro kai fotismos, yperoxa xromata! Sygxaritiria!

Iraklis

burGu (4528) 2009-05-03 22:12

Even though structure of buildings and the birdview of town doesn't look like same -not even similar- reminds me a photo of rigoletto, which was taken in Ortahisar: "Bedrock?"... It is probably because of yellowish-green tones of the land and birdview from a high place. Nice pov over the town and the young tree guarding the view.
Hugs to you all and give a big kiss to the little prince!

TopGeo (21423) 2009-05-04 9:44

Γειά σου Σάκη!
Εικόνα εντυπωσιακή! σε κάδρο, χρώματα με ισχυρές αντιθέσεις.
Καθαρή λήψη, ωραία θέα! και δυνατή σύνθεση! Ο λόφος προσθέτει και το δένδρο ισορροπεί!
(αφαίρεσε το κουτί δεξιά μπροστά)
Χαιρετώ σε!
Γεώργιος

Didi (35744) 2009-05-09 3:55

Yassou Sakis
Very interesting difference of lights and good balance with the shades.
And I note also a good dominant point of view on the town.
Best regards

oana79 (99) 2009-05-12 1:12

Kalimera Saki,
Amazing composition, lovely atmosphere! I love the point of view, you did great with light and colours too, the image feels almost "crispy" :)

Cheers,
O.

stelli (2939) 2009-05-12 10:36

Beautiful composition and framing! Light and colors are superb! Thank you for sharing! ΦΙΛΙΚΑ Στέλλα