Some 230 km northeast of Thessaloniki, and 30 minutes from the port city of Kavala, lies Xanthi, a dependably solid Thracian town and one of the most distinctive in northern Greece.

While it is a lively town with many bars and cafes, fuelled by a university presence, Xanthi’s charms are most apparent in its old, Turkish-influenced upper town. The colourful, crumbling houses and bulbous whitewashed plaster walls, bubbling across narrow stone alleys remnant of a Greek island, lend an eloquent and understated touch of civility to an enclave that was quite a wealthy commercial center in Ottoman Turkish times.

Much of Xanthi’s wealth centered on the tobacco trade, and it is in fact in the preserved mansion of the former tobacco barons, the Kouyioumtzoglous family – now the town’s folk museum – that it has been preserved, in the form of ornate neo-classical architecture, grand ceiling paintings, and moveable relics from centuries of life in the area (the Xanthi area still produces a potent and prized local blend of cigarettes, Kiretsiler). The museum stands impressively on Antika Steet, at the base of one’s ascent into the old town. Further up is a somewhat unusual facility for a Greek town – a working mosque, catering to Xanthi’s Turkish-speaking minority who have long lived in the upper quarters.

While the more visited coast is not too far away, Xanthi is worth seeing in its own right and is a destination for all seasons; it boasts one of the most famous winter carnivals in Greece, while Easter and numerous other religion-inspired festivities, as well as musical and theatrical performances, enliven the spring and summer months as well.

Finally, the town is host to several tavernas and cafes located where the new town meets the old, and is also famous for its Turkish sweets - it has perhaps the best baklava this side of Istanbul.