Northeast of the Kainourgio village, is found the castle of Vlochos, in an altitude of 688 meters. There, on top of the hill, on the western slope of Panetolikon Mountain there was the ancient city of Thestia. The city was named after the mythical king Thestios.
Many glorious people of the Greek history are related to the thespian fortress and the house of king Thestios. Meleagros, the most important hero in the war for the Calidonian Boar, was Thestios’ grandson. Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, wives of Menelaus and Agamemnon, were granddaughters of Thestios, as the hero in the war in “Seven Against Thebes” Amphiaraus. Even the queen of Ithaca, Penelope, wife of Odysseus, was daughter of the king Icarious of Sparta to whom Thestios donated a portion of the state to govern.
But also the most famous ancient hero of Greece, Heracles, became Deianira’s husband. Deianira was daughter of Althaia and granddaughter of Thestios.
The wall that surrounded the thespian fortress was the larger in the entire land of Aetolia with length of 4,000 meters, and according to the tradition it was built by the Cyclopes. The walls enclosed the Citadel (known as Glas) making Thestiaia a powerfull city-state in the interior of Aetolia. From the walls at the south and west of the citadel, are maintained up to today in the entire length several blocks without towers.