Old seminary in Macedonia now a hotel
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PERCHED on a steep hill overlooking the eastern Macedonian seaport of Kavala, the historic Imaret is not merely a hotel. It is a historic destination in its own right.
The Imaret’s story starts in 1817 with its owner Mohamed Ali Pasha, the founder of the modern Egyptian state, who built it as a gift to the town where he was born.
For more than a century, the Imaret, which means “hostel for pilgrims,” operated as one of the most recognized Islamic seminaries in the region, complete with a mosque, madrasas or colleges, a library, a printing press, administrative offices and a soup kitchen to feed students, the poor and travelers, regardless of religion.
But like many Ottoman buildings left after Greece’s war of independence, the landmark was abandoned to rot.
That was until Anna Missirian Tzouma came along. She is a Kavala native. Captivated by its tarnished grandeur and fading beauty, she spent seven years traveling back and forth to Cairo, “pestering,” as she put it, the Egyptian government’s Waqf Administration to allow her to restore the monument for use as a luxury hotel and cultural foundation. The Waqf had been granted ownership of the Imaret by Greece in the 1920s.
“After making 40 trips from Kavala to Cairo and back, plus a lot of begging to the Egyptian authorities, I finally got the go-ahead to undertake the restoration,” said Missirian, whose family are tobacco merchants, some of the last remaining in the city. “Each time I went to Egypt they turned me down, but I never gave up.”
Missirian had her work cut out for her, as decades of both man-made and natural decay had left vast sections of the site in complete ruin.
“One of the major challenges we faced was to revive long-forgotten construction techniques for the reconstruction of the monuments’ many metal domes, long vaulted corridors and chimneys,” said Theodoros Mouryiadis, the project’s chief engineer.
Five years of restoration and 8 million euros later, the Imaret was ready in 2005 to serve as much as a monument as a grand hotel fit for a sultan.
Each of its 30 rooms, including four suites, are elegantly decorated and overlook courtyard gardens lined with bonsai orange trees and shimmering pools and fountains.
While the hotel provides 21st-century luxuries, it also maintains its old world oriental charm, including an underground cistern that serves as a swimming pool and the traditional bath, or hammam.
Located just 200 meters from the hotel, the home of Mohamed Ali has also been carefully restored by Missirian, who transformed it into a museum and Institute for the Research of Eastern Traditions.
“Our mission is to act as a link between European and Middle Eastern countries to establish cultural dialogue and cooperation. Our goal is for the West to better understand Islam and to learn to respect their culture,” says Missirian.
“During the European Dark Ages, we had the Golden Age of Islam which lasted for more than 500 years, from the mid-7th century to the mid-13th century,” she noted. “We need to show the West what the East achieved in terms of architecture, medicine, art and culture.”
If on the off-chance you feel like venturing outside of the hotel, Kavala’s Byzantine castle, Hussein Bey mosque and traditional tobacco warehouses are all worth a visit.
The imposing arches of a medieval aqueduct that was used to transport water from the mountains in through the city walls fascinate visitors.
Within a short drive from the city, adventurers can visit the ancient city of Phillipi or follow the route of Alexander the Great to Vergina, Dion, Pella and the ancient city of Amphipolis, where excavations at the country’s largest burial tomb are currently under way.
Nature lovers can take in bird-watching or rafting at the Nestos and Evros rivers, while sailing enthusiasts can discover the nearby island of Thassos or venture out to the all-male monastic enclave of Mount Athos, an island where both Britain’s Prince Charles and Russian President Vladimir Putin have been regular visitors.
Wine lovers will be thrilled to discover that the area between Kavala and Drama is part of the Dionysus wine route and is considered to produce some of the country’s best-quality wines.
More than 20 wineries, among them Gerovassiliou, Pavlidis, Simeonidis, Domaine Biblia Chora, Estate Chatzigeorgiou and Nico Lazaridi Estate, offer wine lovers the chance to experience wine tasting and touring throughout the year.
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