Kastanies ( el, Καστανιές, meaning "

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

s", tr, Kestanelik which means "chestnut" too) is a town located in northern part of the regional unit of Evros,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, and is part of the municipal unit of

Vyssa Vyssa ( el, Βύσσα) is a former municipality in the Evros regional unit, East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Orestiada, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit ha ...

. It is situated at the border with

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Geography

Kastanies is situated in the low plains near the confluence of the rivers Evros and Ardas, on the south bank of the Ardas. The area consists of farmlands, with some forests at the banks of the rivers. There are two road bridges and one railway bridge across the Ardas. Kastanies is 2.5 km south of

Marasia Marasia (Greek: Μαράσια, Turkish: ''Maraş'', Bulgarian:''Maраш'') is a village in the northern part of the Evros (regional unit), Evros regional unit in Greece. Marasia is part of the municipal unit of Trigono. In 2011 its population was ...

, 4 km west of Karaağaç (Turkey), 5 km northeast of

Rizia Rizia (Greek: Ρίζια) is a village in the municipal unit of Vyssa in the northern part of the Evros regional unit in Greece. It is situated on the right bank of the river Ardas. The nearest large village is Kastanies to its northeast, on th ...

, 8 km northwest of

Nea Vyssa Nea Vyssa () is a village in the northeastern part of the Evros regional unit in Greece. It was the seat of the municipality of Vyssa until 2011. In 2011 its population was 2,805. It is situated near the border with Turkey and the river Evros, a ...

, 8 km southwest of

Edirne Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...

(Turkey) and 16 km north of

Orestiada Orestiada ( el, Ορεστιάδα, formerly , ''Nea Orestiás''), is the northeasternmost, northernmost and newest city of Greece and the second largest town of the Evros regional unit of Thrace. Founded by Greek refugees from Edirne after the ...

Transport

The

Greek National Road 51 Greek National Road 51 ( el, Εθνική Οδός 51, abbreviated as EO51) is a single carriageway road in northeastern Greece. It connects the Greek National Road 2 (Florina - Thessaloniki - Alexandroupoli - Turkey) near Feres with the Bulgar ...

E85 E85 is an abbreviation typically referring to an ethanol fuel blend of 85% ethanol fuel and 15% gasoline or other hydrocarbon by volume. In the United States, the exact ratio of fuel ethanol to hydrocarbon may vary according to ASTM 5798 that ...

, which connects

Alexandroupoli Alexandroupolis ( el, Αλεξανδρούπολη, ), Alexandroupoli, or Alexandrople is a city in Greece and the capital of the Evros regional unit. It is the largest city in Western Thrace and the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. It h ...

with the Bulgarian border near

Svilengrad Svilengrad ( bg, Свиленград; el, Σβίλενγκραντ; ota, Cisr-i Mustafapaşa) is a town in Haskovo Province, south-central Bulgaria, situated at the border of Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. It is the administrative centre of the h ...

passes west of Kastanies. A smaller road connecting the E85 with

in Turkey by way of the border crossing Karaağaç passes through Kastanies. Kastanies has a station on the

Alexandroupoli–Svilengrad railway The Alexandroupoli–Svilengrad railway ( el, Σιδηροδρομική γραμμή Αλεξανδρούπολης - Σβίλενγκραντ, Sidiródromos Alexandroúpolis-Svílen'nkrant) is a long railway connecting the port of Alexandroup ...

, served by trains from Alexandroupoli to

Ormenio Ormenio ( el, Ορμένιο, tr, Çirmen, bg, Черномен, Chernomen) is the northernmost place in all of Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Trigono in the Evros regional unit of Thrace. It is situated near the right bank of the r ...

. The

Otoyol 3 Otoyol 3 ( en, Motorway 3), also known as the European Motorway ( tr, Avrupa Otoyolu) and abbreviated as the O-3 is a long otoyol in East Thrace, Turkey. The O-3 runs from Edirne to Istanbul and is the only motorway in Turkey located entirely ...

(O-3) to Istanbul begins a few km directly north of Kastanies. The O-3 is part of

Asian Highway 1 Asian Highway 1 (AH1) is the longest route of the Asian Highway Network, running from Tokyo, Japan via Korea, China, Southeast Asia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran to the border between Turkey and Bulgaria west of Istanbul ...

to Tokyo and is also part of the E80 to Lisbon.

Historical population

History

The village during the Ottoman administration was called "Çörekköy" and in the past had experienced great economic growth, from the cultivation of the broom. The

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

of 1912 and 1913 heavily affected Kastanies. In March 2018, at the Greek-Turkish border in Kastanies, two Greek officers were captured by a multi-member Turkish patrol. At the beginning of 2020, the village became widely known due to the incidents of the 2020 Greek-Turkish border crisis.

Tourism

Kastanies is the last village on the Sultans Trail hiking path within the territory of

. There are 2 sections ready in Greece one coming from

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

via

and other coming from

Ivaylovgrad Ivaylovgrad ( bg, Ивайловград, "city of Ivaylo") is a town in Haskovo Province in the south of Bulgaria set near the river Arda in the easternmost part of the Rhodope Mountains, and is the administrative centre of the homonymous Ivayl ...

via

Komara Komara ( el, Κόμαρα) is a village in the northwestern part of the Evros regional unit in northern Greece. Komara is in the municipal unit of Trigono. Its population was 628 in 2011. Komara is situated on the left (northern) bank of the rive ...

and following the river Ardas. It's not permitted by the Turkish border guards to cross into Greece from Turkey on foot via the border crossing northeast of the village.

References