Attractions and Places To See in Lake Kerkini National Park - Top 11

Finish Parcours #TCRNo9 // Thessaloniki

TCRNo9 finishes on the shores of the Aegean Sea, where the city of Thessaloniki marks the end of the adventure for our successful riders, having started thousands of kilometres away on the edge of western Europe. The history of the city is a rich tapestry of radicalism and anarchy, borne from its place on the historical frontier of Europe and Asia, and mirrored in the architecture we see today. At its heart lies the White Tower, which in its various guises — Byzantine, Ottoman, and modern Greek — has stood witness to this transient border since the 12th Century. Here our riders will finish, and have the opportunity to dip their wheels into the Aegean, signalling the end of their Transcontinental journey, and the chance to rest their weary bodies.

Lake Kerkini dams the Strymonas (Struma) river coming from Bulgaria. It is an artificial lake that was created from a dam in 1932 and over time has transformed the surrounding area into a true paradise. A sanctuary for birds and people alike, the calm, serene lake is ideal for bird watching and fishing. The original purpose of Lake Kerkini was to regulate the water level of the Strymonas to prevent flooding further downstream. In addition to this use, water was increasingly withdrawn from Lake Kerkini over the years to irrigate agricultural areas along the Strumas plain and the Serres-Sidirokastro plain. A new dam was built in 1982 as a result of the meanwhile lower water level, also due to the sediment input of the river Strymonas and thus the reduced capacity. In addition to being used for flood protection and for irrigating agricultural land, Lake Kerkini has developed into an important wetland biotope. 30 species of freshwater fish and 300 species of birds live in and around Lake Kerkini. In addition to birds and fish, there are also rare animals such as wolves. Thousands of flamingos wintering here have been a highlight since the 1990s. Source: Excerpts from https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerkini-See and https://www.discovergreece.com/de/macedonia/lake-kerkini

Ano Poroia was founded in the late 18th century (c. 1800) by Aromanians (mainly) from the Pindus mountains after expulsions led by Ali Pasha from Ioannina. During the 19th century the village was one of the largest and most developed in Demirhisar Kaza des Serres Sandjak. The main occupations were agriculture (tobacco, flax, cotton, barley, rye), silkworm farming and trade. The population was made up of Greeks, Aromanians, Bulgarians and Turks. In the "Ethnographie des vilayets d'Adrianople, de Monastir et de Salonique" (published in 1878 in Constantinople and in relation to the population) it was written that Gorni Poroi was a village and had 320 households with 1,000 Bulgarians and 60 Aromanians. At first, both Bulgarians and Aromanians adhered to the same liturgy and belonged to a unified church ministering in Greek. More about the checkered history at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ano_Poroia

Fort Roupel is a fortress on the northern border of central Macedonia in Greece, built in 1914 because this place is of strategic importance for access to either Greek or Bulgarian territory. During World War I, on May 25, 1916, the Royal Greek Government of Athens allowed the fortress to be surrendered to the Germans and their Bulgarian allies as a counterweight to the Allied forces stationed in Thessaloniki. The German-Bulgarian troops then occupied most of East Macedonia without resistance. The fortress also became famous during the Second World War, when the advance of the German armies on this section of the front was stopped here. On the eve of World War II, Fort Roupel was incorporated into the Metaxas Line, a new line of defenses built to repel an invasion of Greece by Bulgaria. For three days the fortress withstood the German attack and was only abandoned by its men after the surrender of the Greek army in Thessaloniki. Today one of the galleries of the fortress is open to visitors, as well as a small museum and the pavilion for visitors, the observatory and the memorial to fallen soldiers. On the gallery, the visitor has the opportunity to relive the moments of the battle. In addition, parts of the 23-kilometer tunnel are accessible to visitors.

Beyond the dam that forms the artificial lake of Kerkini, in the homonymous national park, the water forms a marshy area where many birds can be observed, including the pelican crape, one of the rarest of the existing pelicans