Location information

Geographical position

  The ancient 'Orestiada' is located between two mountains, Vitsi and Grammos, in Western Macedonia.
  In the middle of a circular plain, which is shaped from the above mentioned mountains, is located the famous lake 'Orestias' and above this peninsula which just into it, is the city of Kastoria.
  It is a city of 30.000 inhabitants, closely connected to its legendary past and its great History, which is full of life and progress. One can reach Kastoria by bus from Athens - Larissa - Kozani - Kastoria, Athens - Meteora - Grevena - Kastoria, Thessaloniki - Florina - Prespes - Kastoria, Thessaloniki - Edessa - Kastoria, Thessaloniki - Veria - Kastoria -Yugoslavian borders (Niki) - Florina - Kastoria (and by way of Vitsi), Igoumenitsa - Ioannina - Kastoria.
  All these routes offer the traveler unforgettable sights with alternative views of scenery, lakes, mountainous passes, forests and picturesque villages.
  One can also reach Kastoria from Athens by air.
This text (extract) is cited June 2003 from the Municipality of Kastoria tourist pamphlet.

Municipality of Kastoria WebPages
• http://www.kastoriacity.gr

• http://www.kastoriagr.com

• http://www.agn.gr/hellas/macedon/kastoria.asp (6 img.)

Municipality of Kastoria WebPage
• http://www.kastoriacity.gr/map.htm

Castoria

  A titular see of Macedonia. Castoria seems to have replaced Celetrum.
  The Byzantine chroniclers describe it as a strong fortress. In the tenth century it must have been occupied by the Bulgarians. About 1350 it was given up by the Emperor Joannes Cantacuzene to the King of Servia, and in 1386 it was captured by the Turks.
  As early at least as the reign of Basil II, Castoria was the first suffragan see of Achrida. The see still exists for the Greeks and has been made a metropolitan. Some ten Latin bishops are known from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries.
  Castoria is today [1908] the chief town of a mutessariflik in the vilayet of Monastir, with about 10,000 inhabitants -- Turks, Greeks, and Bulgarians. It is also the see of a Bulgarian bishopric with 2224 families, 32 priests, and 22 churches.

S. Petrides, ed.
Transcribed by: Gerald M. Knight
This extract is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1908)
• http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03414b.htm