Starting in
Poulidou Street, gradually ascend towards the Oldtown, a
listed historic settlement faithful to the traditional architecturalstyle, featuring
houses with sachnisia (enclosed balconies),wood, stone
and wonderful colours, which stand out andbeautify
the urban landscape. Here you can find coffee shops,small
taverns and restaurants for all tastes and budgets.If you
carry on you will find the Imaret on your right. It was builtby Mohamet
Ali (1769-1849), founder of the last Egyptian Dynasty,who was
born in Kavala and lived in Kavala and Thasos. Thebuilding
complex included a seminary, a boarding school and later,a
poorhouse. An excellent example of Ottoman architecture, itfunctions
today as a hotel.At the end
of the road: the square withthe statue
and ‘Konaki’ (residence) ofMohamet Ali
which operates as a museum.Behind the
stone wall, a largegarden is
home to a typical exampleof Ottoman
architecture in 18th centuryGreece. Its
authentic interior layout hasbeen
preserved, with the male quartersin the
south section, the femalequarters in
the north, and the famoussofa, the
only place that communicates with the other rooms.The kitchen
has also been preserved, and communicates withthe rest of
the house only via a rotating cupboard. The women,invisible,
would serve food through this cupboard. The statueof Mohamet
Ali, work of the sculptor Konst. Dimitriadis (1934),represents
him on horseback, with his sword about to enter itssheath,
symbolizing his wish to return to his birthplace to rest(the same
statue can be found in Alexandria where, ready to enterbattle, he
is about to remove his sword from its sheath).Returning
towards the Imaret, takeMexmet Ali
Street, where you willsee the
Chalil Bey complex (PaliaMusiki),
which has been preserved,as well as
the minaret of the 16thcentury
(built on the foundationsof an old
Christian Basilica), and 8rooms of
the Madrasa (seminary).At the
beginning of the 20th century,it housed
the girls’ primary school,and after
the Catastrophe in Asia Minor,it housed
refugee families. From 1930-1940, the Kavala PhilharmonicOrchestra
was housed there, which explains the name“Palia
Mousiki” (old music).From
ChalilBey, via Anthemios Street, head towards the Fortress,built at
the beginning of the 15th century AD incorporatingthe ruins
of the Byzantine acropolis. It is 65m long and 17-60mwide, built
in local granite, bricks, marble and mortar.The
fortress has three towers, a rampart and two gates: the disusednorthwestern
gate and the present entrance (NE). Insidethere is a
water tank, a warehouse for firearms and food storage,the guards’
chambers and the central circular tower, 18m high.Despite the
fact that it had been built according to standards of aperiod
preceding the ones when firearms became predominant,it coped
well with successive pirate raids in the 16th-17th centuryand attacks
from Morozini’s Venetian fleet (1684). In 1885, it wasabandoned
for good. Nowadays various artistic events are heldat the
fortress.Free
entrance.Opening
hours: Tuesday – Sunday: 8:30 – midnight.Winterhours:
November – March: 8:30 -16:00.The
fortress ends at the aqueduct (“Kamares”). Built at the beginningof the 16th
c entury ( 1520-1530) t he a queduct b roughtprosperity
to the fading town. It supplied water to the Panagiapeninsula
for 4 centuries. Archaeological and historical datasuggest
that it was built on the same site as the destroyed Romanaqueduct
from the first centuries BC. The aqueduct, 6.5kmlong,
started at an altitude of 400m at the “Subasi” or “TriaKaragatsia”Spring, and
passing over 5 stone bridges it ended at thewater
bridge (Kamares) at a height of 75m. Today the pipe is visibleup to Ag.
Konstantinou Church, where it disappears underAg.Konstantinou
and Konstantinidou Poitou streets, reappearingat Kamares.Go down
Ierolochites Street and continue along KountouriotouStreet
towards the city centre. Nearby is the Church of AgiosNikolaos,
built in the 16th century, and next to it is Paul the Apostle’sRostrum, a
35m2 mosaic composition the subject of which is“The
arrival of Paul the Apostle in Neapoli, Philippi”. According tothe Acts of
the Apostles, Paul the Apostle came here in 50BC, afterthe
petition of a Macedonian who appeared to him in a vision.Take
Erythrou Stavrou Avenue to reach the Archaeological Museum,at number
17 (Faliro Park), which was built in 1963 toplans by
the professors D. Fatouros and G. Triantafyllidis, of thePolytechnic
School at the Aristoteleio University of Thessaloniki.Of
particular interest are the findings from excavations at Dikili-Tas, a
Neolithic farming settlement (6,500 BC) 2km from Philippi,where large
quantities of charred pressed grapes were found,providing
clear evidence of wine making.The
reconstruction, at their actual dimensions, of two Ionic columnsfrom the
temple of the Virgin Goddess (5th century BC), patronsaint of
ancient Neapoli, combined with architectural parts(capitals,
mouldings), enable the visitor to get a clear impressionof this
important monument. The permanent “Neapoli – Christoupoli– Kavala”
exhibition tells the story of the town from ancienttimes to
modern times.Telephone:
+30 25102 22335Summer
opening: Tuesday-Friday: 9:00 -16:00,Winter
opening: Tuesday- Friday 9:00-15:00Entrance: 2
euros.Turning
back towards the centre, pass the imposing Prefecturebuilding
(on your right), continue towards the port and turn leftafter Dagli
Street towards the Infantry Hero monument in theMunicipal
Garden. The Municipal Garden park spreads out beforeyou, with
its bronze statue of Niki, work of the sculptor G.Parmakelis.
The relief representation was crafted by the sculptorD.
Gerolymatos and refers to the struggles of the Greeks fromancient
times until 1940-41. The Town Hall stands in the back-ground, a
white washed Hungarian tower in miniature, with agrand
double staircase, built around 1895 by the Hungarian tobaccomerchant
Pierre Herzog.In 1937,
under Mayor A. Balanos, it was bought by the Municipalityof Kavala
and since then has been home to the Town Hall.The Adolf
Wix building, built in 1899 (8 Kyprou Street) and servingboth as
residence and headquarters for the trade activities ofGerman
Baron Adolf Wix, has many features in common with theneighboring
Town Hall, and pronounced gothic features. Today, itis the
property of the Municipality of Kavala. On Kyprou Street.,next to the
café below the Town Hall, the Lazariston Monastery,built
during the period from 1888 to 1892, features mixed architecturalelements of
neoclassical influence. It used to be a FrenchConsulate
as well.The Great
Club (Megali Lesxi) at 12 Kyprou Street, built in 1909by the
Charitable Fraternity of Gentlemen of Kavala (F.A.K.K.),was home to
the Greek Community Club of Kavala and openedits doors
on 22 May 1910. It is an exceptional example of AustrianBaroque in
Europe and unique in Greece. The color combinationof the
façade (honey and imperial red) seems to be a copy of apart of the
Concert Hall in Vienna (Musikverein). On the neoclassicalside of the
building there is a large number of details in theancient
Greek tradition (mock columns, capitals of columns,friezes
etc.). The building is being renovated to function as a culturalvenue.Tokos
Mansion (14 Kyprou Street) houses the 12thDepartment ofByzantine
Antiquities. It was built in 1879 by the tobacco merchantD. Tokos.
In 1911, it was bought by the Charitable Fraternityof
Gentlemen of Kavala. It served as a consulate and also housedthe Town
Hall from the liberation of Kavala until 1937.To the
right of and behind the Town Hall, in Kapnergatis Square,the sight
of a multi-storey building captivates you. This is the MunicipalTobacco
Warehouse, built at the beginning of the 20th centuryby the
Turkish tobacco merchant Kizi Mimin. It is an exampleof
neoclassical Ottoman style (false columns, capital columns,cornices)
with Baroque features, such as the imposing crowningof the
roof, with its four crowns. It belongs to the Municipalityof Kavala
and houses the Nautical Museum, while it is aboutto house
the Kavala Folklore Museum and Tobacco Museum aswell. It
also serves as an exhibition hall.From
Kapnergatis Square, go past the Municipal Library, go uphill,on the
right side of the car park, and turn right into KonsantinouPalaiologou
Street to visit the Tobacco Museum, a themedmuseum with
objects and archival material concerning the cultivationand
production of tobacco, its farming and commercialprocessing,
the industrial tobacco products andtobacco-sample
exhibits.The
uniqueness of the Tobacco Museum lies in the fact that itdoes not
solely exhibit the commercial processing of easterntobacco
(which cannot be found in any other museum in theworld), but
also gives the visitor a good idea about the socialhistory of
Kavala and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace by meansof its
technological museum.Telephone:
+30 25102 23344 www.tobaccomuseum.grOn the same
road you will see the Old Girls School, a simpleneoclassical
building of 1894, which was built with the financialassistance
of prominent tobacco merchants as well as that oftobacco
workers, who each contributed one day’s wage. Today,it is home
to the 10th Primary School of Kavala.The
Municipal Conservatory of Kavala (67, Eleftherios VenizelosStreet) can
be found in a neoclassical building (featuring pediments,false
columns, window frames, rhomboid geometricalpatterns
etc.), which was built before 1884 as a tobacco merchant’shouse. The
conservatory organizes the Internal MusicFestival
“G.A. PAPAIOANNOU” andInternational
Music Seminars everyyear. The
building adjacent to the oldconservatory,
a unique example ofFrench
Rococo architecture in Kavala,was built at the same time.