Lamia

Lamia is the capital of the regional unit of Phthiotis and the administrative seat of the whole Central Greece region, a busy provincial city of roughly fifty thousand people midway between Athens and Thessaloniki. It rises on the foothills of Mount Othrys, overlooking the broad valley of the Spercheios river as it runs west into the mountains and east towards the sea. For travellers heading north or into the highlands of Evrytania, it is the natural gateway.

The city's landmark is its castle, a fortress on the hill of Agios Loukas whose walls span Classical, Frankish, Catalan and Ottoman phases. Within the enclosure the Archaeological Museum of Lamia, housed in a handsome former barracks, gathers finds from across Phthiotis. From the ramparts the whole city and its ring of mountains spread out below.

Lamia is best enjoyed at street level, in its distinctive sequence of interconnected squares. Plateia Eleftherias, the grand square of Freedom, the shaded Plateia Parkou, the market bustle of Plateia Laou and the cafe-lined Plateia Diakou each has its own character, and the evening stroll between them is the heart of the city's social life. Athanasios Diakos, the local hero of the War of Independence, gives his name to the last of them.

What draws many visitors, though, lies just outside the city. Some sixteen kilometres southeast is Thermopylae, the narrow pass where Leonidas and his Spartans made their stand against the Persians in 480 BC. A monument to Leonidas and a modern visitor centre now mark the site, and the hot springs that gave the place its name, the hot gates, still steam beside the road.

Lamia is less a destination in itself than a comfortable, characterful hub. Use it to break a long drive, to explore the Spercheios valley and the beaches of the Maliac Gulf, and above all as the springboard for Thermopylae and the mountain country of central Greece rising to the west.