Orestiada

Orestiada holds an unusual distinction: it is the newest town in Greece, founded in August 1923 for Greek refugees from the area of Adrianople, now Edirne, after the population exchange that followed the Treaty of Lausanne. Because it was laid out all at once on empty ground, it has none of the tangled medieval core of older Greek towns. Instead it is a rare example of a planned settlement, with broad straight avenues meeting at right angles, generous squares and green parks.

That orderly, low-built character is the town's charm. Orestiada is the northernmost and most north-easterly town of any size in Greece, set deep in the Evros regional unit close to both the Turkish and Bulgarian borders. It is above all an agricultural centre, the market town for a rich farming plain of wheat, sugar beet, maize and cotton, and its rhythms are those of the surrounding countryside rather than of tourism.

For the visitor, Orestiada is less a destination in its own right than a comfortable and welcoming base for the far north of Thrace. The pleasant central squares, the Folklore Museum and the everyday life of a genuine provincial Greek town are pleasant enough, and the food and hospitality are warm. From here it is an easy drive to the great Byzantine fortress town of Didymoteicho to the south, and to the border villages and crossings around Kastanies.

This is a corner of Greece shaped by frontiers and by the movement of peoples, and that history is close to the surface. The nearby border with Turkey runs along the Evros river, and the whole region carries a strong sense of edge and passage. Birdwatchers and naturalists use the area to reach the northern reaches of the Evros valley and the forests towards Dadia.

Orestiada is reached by road and rail up the Evros valley from Alexandroupoli. Most travellers pass through rather than linger, but it makes a practical overnight stop for those exploring the northernmost tip of the country, best in the milder months of spring and autumn.