Chalkida

Chalkida (also spelt Halkida) is the capital of Evia and the point where Greece's second-largest island all but touches the mainland. Only a narrow channel, the Euripus strait, separates the two, and for centuries that channel has been the town's defining feature. Here the water is squeezed to barely 40 metres across and runs beneath a small sliding bridge in the heart of the old quarter, while a modern suspension bridge carries the main road high above the strait a little to the south.

The strait is celebrated for one of the Mediterranean's odd natural spectacles. The tidal current flows one way for roughly six hours, briefly falls still, then reverses and runs the other way, changing direction several times a day and sometimes racing at speed. Locals call it the "crazy waters", and the phenomenon is said to have baffled Aristotle, who studied it in antiquity. You can watch the flow shift from the bridge or from the string of tavernas that line the waterfront on either bank.

Chalkida is a working town rather than a resort, and it is the better for it. The seafront promenade fills with families in the evening, fish restaurants serve the day's catch, and the old Kastro district preserves the layered past of Ottoman, Venetian and Jewish Chalkida, including one of Greece's oldest surviving synagogues and the Emir Zade mosque. The archaeological museum gathers finds from across the island.

Because it lies only about 80 kilometres from Athens and is reached in around an hour by road or by frequent trains, Chalkida makes an easy first stop on Evia and a popular weekend escape for Athenians. From here the whole island opens up: the beaches and dragon houses of the south, the forests and spa towns of the north, and the mountain villages under Mount Dirfys inland.

Come for the setting, the fresh seafood and the curious tides, and use the town as a base for exploring an island that most foreign visitors still overlook.