Serres is one of the seven regional districts of the Greek region of Central Macedonia, named after the main town of Serres. Serres includes the municipalities of Amfipoli, Emmanouil Pappas, Iraklia, Nea Zichni, Serres, Sindiki and Visaltia.
In ancient times, the territory of the Serres region belonged to the settlement and dominion of the Thracians. Within the framework of the Greek colonization between the 8th and 6th century BC, settlements were established, which were mainly located on the Aegean coast and served to control the extraction of ore in the Pangeo Mountains and the trade.
With the Roman empire division in 395 AD, the area of Serres fell to the East Roman and Byzantine empires. They kept the exclusive control up to the 6th century.
For the first time in the year 464 BC, Athens had tried to gain a foothold in the area of Ennea Hodoj, but had been repulsed by the residential Edon tribes in the Battle of Drabeskos.
After a brief exploration of Argilos, a strong downpour had completely weakened the path, so it was extremely muddy, we went on towards Amphipolis, where we first had to cross the modern Via Egnatia - the highway towards Kavala and Alexandroupolis.
To the north-east of Amphipolis there is a 23-meter-high grave, which in all probability contains an important tomb from the last quarter of the fourth century BC, that is, from the epoch of Alexander the Great (356-323) and its immediate successors.
After our stop at the Monument of the Lion of Amphipolis, we continued along the Strymonas to the inner countryside, where we first noticed the Marmariou Tower at the entrance of Amphipolis.
We are on the way to the ancient Amphipolis, which is situated in an arch of the river Strymonas at the Roman Via Egnatia and which once was a major trading place, as a sign for the excavations of ancient Argilos appeared.
During our project work along Via Egnatia, we encountered the ancient Amphipolis, next to Thessalonica and Kavala, neighboring important trading centers on the ancient Roman road between Durres and Istanbul.
Fort Roupel is an old fortress on the northern border of Central Macedonia, close to the Bulgarian border, built before 1914 already.
The Hammām is a further development of the Greek-Roman bath, which the ancient Greeks, Romans and Byzantines have already implemented in their urban concepts as public baths 2,000 years ago.
As it was evening in Agkistro in between, there were few suggestions for a day program to convince us to stay in the village for the night.
After the round trip of Lake Kerkini we moved on towards Agkistro, leaving for Sidirokastro after a few kilometers on the highway to Bulgaria.
In ancient times the Struma, as a significant river, formed the border between the regions Macedonia and Thrace, the original name of the river was Aioneios.
It was originally a suggestion from Toni Zampetas, which finally brought us to George and Anthimos and thus to the village of Agkistro, a small mountain village near the border with Bulgaria in the Serres region.
The first impressions at Kerkini Lake were so impressive that we decided to completely surround the lake, especially as the huge wetlands are more on the north-western bank areas in front of the imposing mountain chain that forms the border with Bulgaria.