Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ì
La Moara
Uphill at the back of the village
T
2310
287 626,
W
lamoara.gr.
A luxurious mansion with
tastefully appointed rooms and state-of-the-art
bathrooms. Run by nationally renowned wine-makers, the
Boutari family, its refined cuisine matches the cellar.
Breakfast included.
€110
Xenonas Neveska
Village centre
T
23860 31442,
W
neveska.gr.
This attractive ochre-coloured guesthouse
provides some of the best-value roo
ms i
in Nymféo. There is
also a reasonably priced restaurant.
€40
Flórina
Surrounded by steep hills carpeted with beech woods,
FLÓRINA
lies only 13km from
the border with the Macedonian Republic and is the nearest town with any transport
connections to the Préspa lakes (see below). Although the only attractive part of town
is the immediate environs of the Sakouléva River, two museums warrant a visit.
Museum of Modern Art
Leofóros Eleftherías 103 • Daily May-Sept 6-9pm; Oct-April 5-8pm • Free •
T
23850 29444
Flórina's impressive
Museum of Modern Art
is housed in a refurbished Neoclassical
building beside the river. With nearly five hundred works by over two hundred and
fifty Greek painters, sculptors and engravers of the twentieth century, it boasts the best
collection of contemporary art outside of Athens.
Archeological museum
Tues-Sun 8.30am-3pm • €2 •
T
23850 28206
Just opposite the defunct railway station, the
Archeological
museum
has a modest
collection of scuplture, votive reliefs and some artefacts from the Préspa lakeshores.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
4
FLÓRINA
By bus
The KTEL bus station is at Makedhonomákou 10
(
T
23850 22430), just north of the centre. There are two
buses on Mon, Wed & Fri to Áyios Yermanós in Préspes and
connections to Thessaloníki (6 daily; 2hr 30min).
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Hotel Hellinis
Pávlou Melá 31
T
23850 22671,
W
hotel-hellinis.gr.
Classic sixties-style town hotel but
upgraded to make the rooms more co
mfor
table and
contemporary. Very central and good value.
€35
To Petrino
Pávlou Melá 2
T
23850 22560.
Very popular
estiatório
by day and night, serving healthy heapings of
mostly oven-baked goodies such as
pastiísio
or beef
stifádho
for around
€7-8. Some grills too.
Daily till late.
The Préspa lakes
A shimmering expanse of water riven by islets and ridges, the
PRÉSPA LAKES
are one of
the Balkans' most important wildlife sanctuaries. Though not postcard-pretty, the
basin, in the far northwest of Macedonia, has an eerie beauty that grows on you with
further acquaintance. It also has a surprisingly turbulent history as a place of exile for
troublesome noblemen during the Byzantine era and the scene of vicious local battles
during the 1947-49 Greek civil war.
Mikrí Préspa
, the southerly lake, is mostly shallow (9m maximum depth) and reedy,
with a narrow fjord curling west and just penetrating Albanian territory. The borders of
Greece, Albania and the Republic of Macedonia meet in the middle of deeper
Megáli
Préspa
and, especially during the early 1990s, it became a major exit corridor into
Greece for Albanian refugees, who found work as illegal agricultural workers in the
local bean and hay industry.
The core of the
national park
, established in 1971, barely encompasses Mikrí Préspa
and its shores, but the peripheral zone extends well into the surrounding mountains,
affording protection of sorts to foxes, wolves and even bears, which inhabit the area. The
lakes have a dozen resident fish species, including
tsiróni
, a sort of freshwater sardine,
and
grivádhi
, a kind of carp, but it's
birdlife
for which the Préspa basin is most famous.
