Orfeas (Ορφέας), named after the mythical musician Orpheus, is the third-largest municipality in Greece (after Kato Nevrokopi and Paranesti) with a land area of 643.266 km² (248.366 sq mi) and a 2001 census population of 6,146 inhabitants. It is located in the north-central part of the prefecture of Evros, and borders both southeastern Bulgaria and northwestern Turkey. The seat of the municipality is in Lavara (pop. 1,580 in 2001). Much of the land is mountainous and forested to the west hovering the central and the western part of the prefecture extending up to the Rhodope prefecture. It is linked with GR-51 (Alexandroupoli - Orestiada - Edirne in Turkey and Svilengrad in Bulgaria). The town of Lávara sits on a plain. It is located SE of Svilengrad, S of Edirne, Turkey and Orestiada, and 13 km N of Soufli and 78 km N of Alexandroupoli.
The municipality's next largest towns are Protokklísi (pop. 669), Amório (552), Méga Déreio (545), and Agriáni (451). The municipality is divided into seven municipal districts. Its Mikró Déreio district, which includes the towns of Méga Déreio, Gonikó, Sidirochóri, Roússa, and Mikró Déreio, has a land area of 395.753 km², the second-largest municipal district in Greece (after the Sílis district in Paranesti, Drama Prefecture). The district's population is 2,103.
History
The town were rare affected by the Evros river flooding of February 17 to 22, 2005. Flood warnings were reported that time. It devastated much of the town on Wednesday March 2, 2005 and continued for several days. On Friday March 4, flood waters plummeted slowly. It amounted up to 5 m or 5,000 mm of rainfall causing the rover to overflow its banks. It flooded buildings, properties and stores. It also left people stranded in their homes and buildings. 50 houses were damaged. It was the worst flooding in nearly 50 years. The rail south of Lavara and near the station were also flooded and was closed that time.
Geography
Forests dominate the river banks and parts of the plain. Much of the area are used for farming. The main production are cattle, fruits and vegetables and some flowers. The mountains dominate further west.
Other
Lavara has a school, a lyceum, a gymnasium, churches, banks, a police station, a water tower, a post office, a library, and a square (plateia).
