Kozani

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Kozani, a picturesque town set 710 metres above sea level, is the prefectural capital.

The town has several interesting churches, some with beautiful carved icon-screens, some with lovely frescoes, as well as a few l9th-century mansion houses. Kozani's pride and gloxy is the Kouventarios Municipal Library, which contains 69,000 volumes and a large number of manuscripts. Also worth a visit is the Analipsi Monastery, to the north of town, where the hand-woven textiles, rugs and embroideries made by the nuns have won considerable renown.

Those wishing a more traditional atmosphere will want to go to Siatista (28 km. to the southwest) of the slopes of Mt. Siniatsikos (alt 920 m.). Thanks to its fur industry, the town prospered in terms of both commerce and culture in the l8th and l9th centuries, and the churches, schools and mansions built during that era still stand. The interiors of Siatista's houses are beautifully decorated with carved wooden ceilings, stained glass windows and elegant fireplaces.

The market town of Velvendos lies 30 kilometres douth-east of Kozani. Surrounded by place and popular woods, peach and hazelnut orchards it stands near the Aliakmon river. It too has retained many of its old mansions. Én addition, many new buildings are designed in the traditional style.

Other villages where old Macedonian architecture can be seen and admired are Pentalofos, Katafigi, Vlasti and Tsotili with a pichturesque arched bridge.

Servia controls the pass over the mountains to Thessally; here there are a Byzantine fortress and several Byzantine churches with superb frescoes.

Finally, at Perdikas, near the town of Ptolemaida, the anthropologist Aris Poutianos discovered the bones of a prehistoric elephant. One of the oldest specimens of the kind ever found in Europe, it lived in the region some three million years ago.

USEFUL INFORMATION

Kozani Historical and Folk Art Museum
Kozani Archaeological Collection: in the Municipal Library.
Siatista Paleontologica Museum: in the high school (gymnasium).

Caves - Bridges
Skotino Cave: with stalactites and stalagmites, near the village of Akrini.
The Servia bridge: the longest in Greece, 1372 metres.
Shopping: Furs in Siatista, hand-woven fabria in Vlasti.

how to get there
By bus: Athens-Kozani, KTEL Athens, tel.: 514.4905. Thessaloniki-Kozani, KTEL Thessaloniki, tel.: (031) 522.488.
By train: Athens-Kozani, OSE Athens, tel.: 524.0647. Thessaloniki-Kozani, OSE Thessaloniki, tel.: (031) 517.517/8.
By plane: Athens-Kozani, Olympic Airways, Athens, tel.: 966.6666, O.A.Kozani, tel.: (0461) 36.462-3. Kozani Airport, tel.: (0461) 26.864.