Weekend in Kavala

This weekend we decided to escape for a day from the cold and rain and to visit sunny Kavala - a port in Northern Greece, across the island of Thasos, some 320 km from Sofia.

It's early spring in Greece - the trees are coming into leaf, industrial peach gardens along the road are in pretty pink blossoms and the decorative tangerine trees are covered with ripe fruit.

The St. Nicolas church near the port with an interesting mural in front.

Houses in the old town, built on the small rocky peninsula, with charming narrow cobbled streets and houses with hanging loggias.

The statue of Mohammed Ali, founder of the last Egyptian dynasty, who grew up in Kavala. His house is now a museum.

The big and beautiful Panagia (Virgin Mary) church, built right at the very end of the peninsula.

The island of Thasos is right across the sea.

We walked these narrow streets for hours. This one leads down to a small cove, where we had a cup of tea, listened to the waves and the cries of the seagulls and looked out to the sea.

The Halil Bey complex, which includes the red mosque, built on the foundations of an old Christian basilica, the remains of an old minaret, dated around 16th century and a madress (Islamic school).

One of the major sites of Kavala - the Kamares aqueduct, built during the Suleiman the Magnificent period in the 16th century on top of a post-Roman aqueduct. It is 280 m long with maximum height of 24.5 m. Its northern end connected with 6.5 km pipes, which brought water from the Palia Kavala area to the city, feeding the public water fountains, Turkish baths, mosques, etc.

The port of Kavala with a very pleasant sea-side pedestrian area.

Almost all of our pictures from Kavala were taken by hubby on his phone, while the Olympus struggled with focus and diaphragm opening and overexposed the photos :(

A view from the port to the domes of the Imaret - a 4200 m2 Ottoman area for religious, teaching and philanthropic activities, built by Mohhamed Ali in 1817-21 and on top of the hill - the remains of the Byzantine acropolis, built during the first half of the 15th century.

In the acropolis - the watch tower.

A view from the watch tower to the inner court of the castle with the arms and food depots.

The entire wall of the castle is "walkable", which is really cool, the views are so beautiful.

Inside the arms depot, which served as a prison at one time.

The watch tower and the castle wall provide panoramic views over the entire city: