Cruising Around Livadiá

We’re cruising around Livadiá, one of my favorite Greek cities and one of the few places I would be happy to live in. It is the capital of Boeotia, run by the small Herkyna river—very Feng Shui if you ask me—named after a nymph, at the springs of which there are shallow grottoes with niches and marble remnants believed to be the site of the Trophonious Oracle temple. It’s also way green (that’s the green-deprived Athenian citizen in me judging), and it has good food. Cue Coldplay—pa-raaa-pa-raaa-pa-ra-di-se.

Pausanias, writing in the 2nd century CE, reported that the original name of the city was Mideia and that it took its current name from Lebadus of Athens, an ancient hero who moved the city from high to low ground to its current location on the banks of the Herkyna river. The sacred protector of the city was the god Trophonios, whose oracle involved a harrowing descent into an underground chamber and was famous beyond the borders of Greece. There’s a small medieval castle on the hill above the river, mostly the work of the Catalan Company during the 14th century, accessible by foot. It is one of only four Catalan castles in Greece.

You can read more about Livadiá here or visit the municipality’s page here.

Όρε όμορφη που ‘ναι η Λιβαδειά που κείτεται στο ρέμα, αχ πάν τα κορίτσια μάνα μ’ για νερό κι έρχονται φιλημένα.

— Δημοτικό

Η Λιβαδειά, η γνωστή, αυτή των 40 παλληκαριών, είναι μία από τις αγαπημένες μου πόλεις και ένα από τα λίγα μέρη στην Ελλάδα που θα μπορούσα να μείνω για πάντα.