Lake Kastoria

How it formed

The lake is what is left of a vast Miocene lake, much larger and deeper than today. Today it is a shallow lake. Mount Vitsi rises to the north-east, Mount Triklarios to the north-west and the foothills of Voios to the south-west. Water comes mainly from Mount Vitsi, by way of the Xiropotamos on the eastern shore, and from smaller streams, and the lake drains to the Haliacmon river through the small Gioli stream.

History

The lake takes its name from the Oreiades. Its shores hold the Byzantine architectural heritage of the town of Kastoria, the Byzantine monastery of Panagia Mavriotissa from the eleventh century, and the reconstructed prehistoric settlement of Dispilio, where the Dispilio Tablet was recovered from the lake in 1992.

Furs and mansions

Kastoria was long known for its furriers, and the grand mansions of the Doltso quarter reflect the wealth that fur processing and trade brought in the 17th and 18th centuries. Traditional fur workshops still work in the town. In the Apozari quarter you will find ornate Byzantine churches, and the town has more than 70 Byzantine churches in all.

A Neolithic lakeside settlement

Wooden structures at Dispilio date to roughly 5600–5000 BC, to the Middle Neolithic, and the lakeside settlement is a free stop for visitors.

Nature

The lake is surrounded by wooded hills, wet meadows, reedbeds, lakeside forests of willow, poplar and alder, marshes and fields, which support a rich birdlife; the riverside forests shelter more than 200 bird species. It is a eutrophic lake, overloaded with nutrients from agricultural waste and the town's sewage. In some winters it freezes over for a few weeks.