The first thing that struck us as we parked up in the vacant lot near our hotel in Kavala (thank goodness they had claimed it for parking as the city is not easy to drive in) was this immense viaduct, rebuilt in the early 16th century from the original. We decided to leave struggling up through the old town with its castle until early evening, as it’s still quite warm here. The old town was home to Mohammad Ali who was the founder of modern Egypt, son of an Albanian tobacco merchant. He was born in the same year as Napolean and Wellington, and was charismatic and a great admirer of Napolean. Here he is as remembered by the town:
There were remnants of his house and various mosques, but his greatest contribution, something called the Imrat, is now a grand hotel charging 5 euros for entry (so we didn’t pay).
We got up to the walls of the castle which is an Ottoman replacement of Roman and Byzantine versions, but of couse, it shut five minutes before we arrived. Here it is to show you where we climbed:
Although it’s quite a ritzy place, there’s a lot of work that could be done in the old city – we were concerned about the neighbours when these buildings collapsed:
The lighthouse could also do with a bit of work!
What a contrast with the bouncy shots of “tobacco city”. With all that money, it’s surprising that Kavala isn’t polishing up its old town. (complex issues of owning its own history? Or just lack of interest?)
Well, who knows? The old town is pretty polished and monied – but in bits. I suspect property ownership/ family disputes – a fight over the inheritance…