Modern Description:
The hidden natural bay and the protected coastal valley at Pánormos (11.5 km) was an ideal site for a city in antiquity. Ancient Panormos was founded by colonists from Chalcis in the 7th century BC at roughly the same time as Peparethos, as part of a determined policy by the mother city to reinforce and protect her vital trading routes towards the northern Aegean Sea. The settlement was clustered around an acropolis on the rise in the centre of the sweep of the valley, about half way along the shore line. Stretches of classical walling can be seen on the north slope of the hill, though hidden by the growth of olive and pine trees. These are best viewed from the road, as you descend to Panormos beach from the north, and are located just above and behind the Panormos Beach Hotel. (To reach the acropolis on foot, take the concrete driveway which leads inland from the centre of the main front at Panormos towards the Hotel Afroditi. At the point where the road ends, a path continues: by cutting back from the path to the left over the hill, you reach the walls.) The site, with the remains of two round towers and a gate amongst the vegetation and pines, stretches back along the ridge. The city extended to the south in the valley below: at the valley's eastern extremity is a cave which in Antiquity may have been a sanctuary to Pan. Along the shore to the south of the bay, the shallow and hidden inlet of Blo (probably a corruption of the ancient Greek root πλὲω, ‘sail'), was the site of the city's protected harbour. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panormus_(Skopelos) Wikidata ID: Q29788206 Trismegistos Geo: 60648 DARE: 43643
