I visited here July 13, 1995 in the company of Greek friends and my sister. Our guide, my friend's Uncle Kosta told us that the massive fortress here was the largest of its kind in Greece. Back then I was most excited to see the ancient sites and less so the more recent construction from a few mere centuries ago. Since returning to the US and reading more of post-medieval Aegean and Mediterranean history, I have come to find it fascinating. Methoni and its many changes of hands made me sympathize with its native-born inhabitants. Perhaps most intriguing was the period that the Venetians and Venetian Navy occupied the area and built up the fortress as a layover for those on their way to the Levant. And then its takeover for a few centuries of Ottoman occupation. While conquered and occupied by different parties, it shares a changing of hands and parallels with the island of Rhodes, where I also spent significant time that summer.