Edessa
Edessa was an ancient city (polis) in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey.
It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire. He named it after an ancient Macedonian capital. The Greek name Ἔδεσσα (Édessa) means "tower in the water". It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene, and continued as capital of the Roman province of Osroene. In Late Antiquity, it became a prominent center of Christian learning and seat of the Catechetical School of Edessa. During the Crusades, it was the capital of the County of Edessa.
Getting to Edessa
Edessa has no airports. The closest airports to Edessa are the airports of Kastoria (about 75km away), Kozani (about 60km away) and Thessaloniki (about 90km away), the most busy of them is Thessaloniki's airport. You will need another means of transport to reach Edessa from any of these airports. There are regular trains from Thessaloniki and Florina to Edessa. Timetables and prices can be found on TrainOSE website.
Worth seeing
- 01Waterfalls
The most famous attraction of Edessa is its waterfalls.
- 02Byzantine Bridge
- 03Longos Archaeological Area
- 04Museum of Folklore
- 05Church of the Koimisis
Set on a hill near the centre of Edessa, the Church of the Koimisis tis Theotokou is the city’s most important surviving Byzantine monument.
Things to do
- 01Lake Vegoritida
Getting around Edessa the local way
- Get aroundThe city has a network of minibus lines, although all sights are located in the easily walkable compact old town.
- Go nextGo to Harran (about 45 km south, by dolmuş from the otogar.
- Go nextYou can also find a dolmuş to Harran near the Havas bus stop, opposite Nevali hotel; on Google Maps you can see the small road named 124.
From Wikivoyage: Urfa, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.
Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Diego Delso (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.