at the northeastern-southwestern axis and up to wide. On the eastern side, once protected by the river, there is a single wall that incorporates part of the ancient city wall of Ambracia. On the other sides, the castle is protected by two walls, an inner one, some high and protected by towers, and an external one of some height, just far enough to enclose the inner wall's towers into its circuit. The inner wall survives intact to the present day, but the outer wall only in isolated stretches. The walls are on average thick. The walls have been reinforced with many bastions, and the towers and parapets modified to hold artillery embrasures by the Ottomans and Venetians. Remains of a Byzantine-era church and building suggest that these may have been the palace and palace church of the Despots of Epirus. Almost all archaeological remains in the interior of the castle have been wiped out, however, by the construction of a Xenia hotel in the 1960s. References Sources Despotate of Epirus Byzantine castles in Epirus (region) Buildings and structures in Arta, Greece 13th-century fortifications in Greece