SERVIA
The name “Servia” derives from the Latin verb "servo" meaning "to watch, observe", reflecting the city's position as an impregnable fortress in earlier times.
With the Pieria Mountains and the Haliacmon River as a background, the visitor encounters historical monuments and rich natural landscapes.
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Mrs Georgia entered the classroom. She sat at her desk and said good morning to all of the children. Athena loved her very much and felt very lucky that this year, in the third grade she had this particular teacher. It was the first year she studied so diligently, and the reason, as she explained, was to make her teacher happy.
Mrs. Georgia thanked the children for the essays they prepared on Friday and, as she did every Monday, she would call the child who wrote the most interesting one to the board to read it out. Her eyes wandered among the children and crossed with Athena's. The little girl's heart went pounding. If only her essay was the best, she thought, but before she could conclude her thought, Mrs. Georgia smiled at her and invited her to come forward.
The essay was titled "The city I was born in", and Athena began to read it out from her notebook.
“I was born in the most beautiful part of Greece, in the town of Servia, which is near Kozani. I stayed there with my parents until my dad changed his job and we left when I was a big toddler. My grandparents still live there and we visit them on holidays. Servia is a small town which means it has more people than a village and less people than a city. On either side of the town we have the mountains called Pieria and on the other side we have the Aliakmon river which was stopped by a dam and it created a huge lake. Lake Polyphytou, which is full of fish.
I really like this place because there are no blocks of flats and I can ride my bike wherever I want. We can go for walks in the mountain which has beautiful forests full of little animals and in winter everything is snowy. When I visit Servia I always go for a ride with my friends to the castle to see the image of Judas' betrayal in the church named "Basiliki ton katechumenon" and to the canyon to see the church in the cave.
Our town has existed for a very long time. In Alexander the Great's time it was called "Phylakai" which means fortresses because this is where the passages towards western Macedonia were. When the Romans came, they changed it to Servia which means observatories. That's why the ancients built this castle over the city so they could better guard the area. Many wars were held in the past years, Romans, Bulgarians, Serbs, Ottomans fought to conquer the area. My grandfather often tells a story about how the Ottomans managed to take our castle. According to an oracle, the acropolis would fall on the day when the fish would swim in the river, alive on one side and fried on the other, and, as this seemed unthinkable, the young queen of the castle was confident that her castle would hold out against the siege. The day, therefore, when the traitor, disguised as a monk, asked the besieged for help, and they opened the gate for him, the Ottomans took the opportunity of storming the castle. At that time the queen was frying fish from the river Aliakmon, and hearing the noise, the pan fell from the fire, and the fish spilled on the floor, fried on one side and raw on the other.
My grandfather tells another story about our place. In the spring of 1943, the Italians came to build the bridge of the river Aliakmonas, which had been burned by the rebels. They spent three days in Servia and burned the whole town. Only the orphanage and a few houses survived. They even burned the churches. My grandfather was lucky because together with his brothers and his mother, they managed to escape and hid in the canyon waiting for the disaster to end. When they returned they had neither clothes nor food and had to leave for a while to stay with some relatives in Veroia. Only a few returned to Servia after the war. Most of them left because they had nothing left.
I love my place and even though I live far away, I always yearn for the day when I will be back again.
Mrs. Georgia got up from her desk and approached Athena. She leaned down, kissed her on the head and smiled. Athena returned to her desk with immense pride both for herself and for the place where she was born!
HALIACMON RIVER
It is the longest river in Greece, gathering the water of the mountains of Western and Central Macedonia, and giving life to a large part of the country before flowing into the Gulf of Thermaikos.
- The Castle
- The Town
- The River
Folklore Museum
Housed in the home of Dr. Aristidis Christakis, the purpose of the museum is the preservation and dissemination of the historical heritage and tradition of the region.
Servia
The name “Servia” derives from the Latin verb "servo" meaning "to watch, observe", reflecting the city's position as an impregnable fortress in earlier times.
Haliacmon River
It is the longest river in Greece, gathering the water of the mountains of Western and Central Macedonia, and giving life to a large part of the country before flowing into the Gulf of Thermaikos.
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