Just a few hours from the city of Florina, there is a small mountain village, which claimed the International Award Melina Mercouri for excellent management of cultural heritage and natural environment in the UNESCO world competition, while many travel guides rank it in the top ten most beautiful of Europe. And not unfair…
Nymfaio, which has been designated since 1978 as a “preserved traditional settlement” is located at an altitude of 1350 meters and enchants the visitor at first glance, as we can see from his plans Travel Inspiration.
Its magnificent cobblestone paths, the impeccable cobbled streets, the impressive stone mansions and the tall beech trees that surround it, are some of the things that will make you impress and fall in love with Nymphaeum in a minute.
It is a model village, but also a place that keeps the visitor’s interest alive. It is known to many by “Arcturos”, a wonderful bear shelter in nature, while it is beautiful any time of the year if you visit it.
In the summer with its particularly vivid colors, you have the opportunity to walk the well-kept streets without the “annoying” presence of vehicles parked on the edge of the village, but also to meet in a huge area of about 60 acres of forest, former captive bears that live now free but protected. You can also canoe on Lake Zachari and taste fine wines from renowned vineyards.
As for the winter when the white color of the snow covers everything in its path, your gaze will not stop capturing the beauty of the imposing mansions with the wonderful snow-covered sheet metal roofs. You will play carefree in the snow and you will experience the warmth of the few but noble inhabitants.
The oldest name of the village was Nivesta, a name of Vlach and previously Doric origin. There were three interpretations: “Bride” due to the beauty of the village (Nivesta) and the location, “invisible” (ni vista) probably because it was in a place where it was not easily visible and “snowy” or “where the snow stays” (nives sta). It was later renamed Nevesta and in 1926 by Presidential Decree received its final name.
A trademark of the village is the old stone school, the Nikeios School, donated by the great tobacconist Jean Nico in 1928, who gives the school its name. It is now a Conference Center of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
It was first inhabited in 1385 and since then it holds an important place in the history of the place, culminating in its great economic prosperity from the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century, when the Neveski merchants spread to the West and East and was one of the largest silver and gold centers in the Balkans. .
And there may have been a time when its inhabitants abandoned it and turned, like many, to large urban centers, but since 1990 the village has come to life with the contribution of important people who come from there and has become a pole of attraction for remarkable tourism.
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