Kavala, Greece

Kavala is a lovely hillside town featuring a jumble of whitewashed buildings overlooked by an imposing Byzantine and Ottoman fortress. Snaking through town, Kavala’s spectacularly preserved aqueduct boasts three tiers of arches, with houses charmingly tucked into some of the lower openings. The nearby archeological site of Philippi, a city founded in the 4th-century BC by Philip II of Macedonia, derived its enormous wealth from the mining of gold. In this once-majestic walled metropolis, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, you’ll discover vestiges of a grand theater, a stately forum, opulent mansions and an early basilica decorated with mosaics.

A short distance away, the town of Xanthi entrances with its elegant 19th-century architecture, a legacy of the prosperity brought by the tobacco trade. You can canoe or hike at the National Park of the Nestos River Delta, where an abundance of wetlands attracts myriad species of birds and other fauna, including flamingos and otters. Back in Kavala, stroll along lively Megalou Alexandrou Street and pause at a café for a sampling of delicious local meze such as grilled octopus and fresh clams paired with local wine or a glass of invigorating ouzo.