Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
fore the waterfalls; provides maps of Edessa and nearby attractions.
Getting There & Around
buses serve Thessaloniki (€12, two hours, hourly), Veria (€4.70, one hour, five daily) and
Athens (€45.60, eight hours, three daily). The bus to Florina (€8.10, 1½ hours, three
daily) departs from 30m away.
The
train station
(
23810 23510; Leoforos Nikis)
is on the Thessaloniki-Athens line
and also serves Florina.
TOP OF CHAPTER
FlorinaΦλώρινα
POP 16,771
Nestled between mountains in a verdant valley, Florina (
flo
-rih-nah) is famous for its
sweet red peppers. It's a small student town, with buzzing cafes on its central pedestrian
street. In the evening, the small river is good for a leisurely stroll.
Florina accesses the Prespa Lakes to the west and is 40km south of lively Bitola in the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). On the Prespa road (15km west of
Florina) is the small Vigla ski resort.
Florina was the northernmost town occupied and annexed by Greek troops during the
Balkan Wars of 1912-13; being just south of the mountains kept it near the front in sub-
sequent wars. The existence of Greece's (Slavic) Macedonian minority, denied outright
by the government and Greece's latter-day fascists, has always been sensitive in the Flor-
ina, Edessa and Prespa regions, where the Macedonian language is spoken by the Greek
population. Heavy, though subtle, pressure from Greek society, media and government
has suppressed it, but if you have sharp ears, you'll still hear Macedonian spoken, though
mostly by older people.
Sights
Archaeological Museum
MUSEUM
