Kleisoúra

Kleisoura commands the Derveni pass between central and northern Euboea. Its castle was built by the Latin conquerors in the early thirteenth century to guard the narrow road, and became the seat of one of the island's lordships. The name derives from a word for an enclosed passage. Walls, cisterns, churches and houses occupied the fortified hill, overlooking the route from Chalkis toward the north.

The Byzantine commander Licario took the castle in 1276, but the Franks recovered it in 1281. It later came under Venetian control. By the late fourteenth century the fortress appears to have been abandoned, though the Ottomans took the island in 1470. During the Greek War of Independence, local fighters under Angelis Govios used the old stronghold as a base.