Kavala

Kavala spreads across a curve of the northern Aegean coast, its houses rising in tiers up the slopes of a natural amphitheatre from a busy harbour to the walls of a Byzantine fortress. The second port and second city of northern Greece after Thessaloniki, it has long served as the mainland gateway to the island of Thasos, whose green profile fills the horizon across the water.

The city's emblem is the Kamares aqueduct, a line of some sixty stone arches striding up to twenty-five metres high across a saddle in the old town. Roman in origin, the surviving structure was rebuilt under Suleiman the Magnificent in the 1530s and carried drinking water into Kavala until the early twentieth century. Above it climbs the Panagia quarter, a peninsula of narrow lanes and overhanging houses that ends at the castle. Here stand the Imaret, a sprawling Ottoman almshouse now restored as a hotel, and the house of Mehmet Ali, the soldier born in Kavala in 1769 who founded the dynasty that ruled Egypt for over a century.

Kavala's roots reach deep into antiquity as ancient Neapolis, the port of Philippi further inland. It was here that the Apostle Paul is said to have first set foot in Europe around AD 49, a moment marked as the arrival of Christianity on the continent. The ruins of Philippi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site about fifteen kilometres away, preserve a vast theatre, a forum and early basilicas, and make an easy half-day trip.

Beyond the monuments, the old tobacco warehouses recall the trade that once made the city rich, and a long seafront of tavernas and cafes looks out to the fishing boats and ferries. Sandy beaches lie within easy reach to east and west.

Spring and early autumn are the most rewarding times to come, when the light is soft and the sea still swimmable. Summer is hot and busy with island-bound traffic, while winters are mild but quiet.