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Kastanies (Template:Lang-el, Template:Lang-tr; plural form of chestnuts), older form Kastania, is a town located in northern part of prefecture of Evros and is part of the municipality of Vyssa. It is situated by the Evros River which forms the border with Turkey.

Geography

• Location:
  • Longitude: 26.475 (26°28'35") E
  • Latitude: 41.643 (41°38'39") N
• Postal code: 680 08
• Elevation: 42 m
• Dialing code: +11+30-25520 (030-25520)

The hills are situated to the west and to the southeast. Farmlands surround the area are to the north and to the west and along the Evros valley. The forests near the Evros lies to the northeast and along the Ardas valley and the hills. One of the bridge runs in parts of the river.

The Evros meets with the Ardas near Kastanies which caused several major floods and where the major flooding began.

Transportation

Two highways run from Kastanies. The (E85) which is to the northeast links northeast to Edirne. The other (GR-51/E85) links south to Orestiada, Didymoteicho and Alexandroupoli and northwest to Svilengrad and Plovdiv in Bulgaria.

A road border-crossing with Turkey is situated to the northeast, with the Turkish town of Karaağaç on the other side.

A railway runs northwest to Svilengrad and the rest of Bulgaria. It is the nearest railway from Thessaloniki. It is located SSE of Svilengrad, Bulgaria, about 6 to 8 km SW of Edirne, N of Uzunköprü and Kesan in Turkey, and N of Alexandroupoli, Soufli and Didymoteicho.

Nearest places

• Karaağaç, Turkey, northeast
• Nea Vyssa, south
• Rizia, west
• Kananta, northwest
• Marasia, north

Historical population

Other

Kastanies has a school, a lyceum, churches, a train station (Pythio - Orestiada - Edirne) and (north to Orestiada) and a square (plateia).

History

The Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 affected Kastanies. In the 1920s, it became a part of Greece. Flooding occurred on December 17, 1996. On February 16, 2005, the flooding of the Evros began as water levels went as high as about 4 m above ground, that's 10 cm above the embankment level which is danger to its residents. Kastanies was flooded. Three days later, the water level was at about 4,6 m. Another flood which began from March 4, 2005 flooded several places again. Several other buildings, roads and southwest to Didymoteicho. The third flood of the year first affected Kastanies as rivers of the Ardas turned the town into a lagoon. Buildings and squares yet again were flooded. The floodwaters later reached the low lying areas of Pythio, Amorio and Lavara along with Didymoteicho a few days later. Roads including the bridge linking to Edirne were also closed. The water level on March 8 was 5.8 m. The government funded money to help victims and buildings of the Evros flooding. The waters flowed at 1,000 l³ per second. On March 4, news reporters were on the bridge of the border with Greece and Turkey during Kalimera Ellada to report the disastrous flooding. The Evros floods were the worst in 50 years.

See also

• List of settlements in the Evros prefecture

External links

• Mapquest - Kastanies
• In Greek:
  • http://vissa.evros.gr/kastanies.html
  • http://vissa.evros.gr/townguide.html

• Vyssa
• Cities and towns in Greece
• Greece-Turkey border crossings