Pýli

Pyli stands at the entrance to a gorge between Mount Itamos and Mount Koziakas, where the Portaikos River emerges towards the Thessalian plain. Its name means a gate, fitting a passage that links Thessaly with the mountains on the way to Arta. The ancient traveller Pausanias knew the place as the Great Gates. In 1283 John Doukas, ruler of Thessaly, founded the monastery of Porta Panagia nearby, leaving a Byzantine church at the threshold of the Pindus.