Few passengers know, as they step ashore in Preveza, that they are setting foot on the very spot where the fate of the Roman world was decided. In 31 BCE, off this point guarding the entrance to the Ambracian Gulf, Octavian's fleet crushed that of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium. The victor, the future emperor Augustus, founded a city on the spot to celebrate his triumph: Nicopolis, the city of victory, whose ruins now lie a few kilometres from the quay.

A port call at the quay, by the tavernas

The modestly sized ships that stop here moor along the town quay, facing the cafés. No logistics required: the seaside promenade, the old lanes and the terraces are a few dozen metres from the gangway. Preveza lives facing its waters, where the enclosed Ambracian Gulf meets the Ionian Sea through a channel so narrow that an undersea tunnel, the only one in Greece, has crossed it since 2002.

The maze of the old quarter

Behind the waterfront, the old quarter lines up its cobbled lanes, where Venetian, Ottoman and neoclassical legacies mingle: wrought-iron balconies, shaded little squares, discreet chapels and a clock tower of Venetian origin. In the late afternoon, the townspeople come out for the volta, the leisurely stroll along the water, and the tavernas fire up their grills. The specialty is beyond doubt: shrimp from the Ambracian Gulf, renowned throughout Greece, served grilled or in sauce, with a glass of ouzo or tsipouro sipped slowly.

Nicopolis, the city of victory

Seven kilometres to the north, the remains of Nicopolis spread over a vast plateau between two seas. Roman and Byzantine walls, a theatre, an odeon, baths and an aqueduct emerge from the tall grass, while the site's archaeological museum gathers statues, mosaics and coins. To populate his foundation, Augustus transplanted the inhabitants of neighbouring cities there, and it became the region's great metropolis for centuries. The place impresses as much by its scale as by its tranquillity: you often walk almost alone among the stones of a capital willed into being by Augustus. By taxi or on an excursion, allow half a day for the site and the museum.

The fortresses of the channel

Preveza long locked the entrance to the gulf, and its defences bear witness to this. The Castle of St. Andrew, remodelled in the 18th century during the Venetian period and then under Ali Pasha, watches near the entrance to the harbour; the Castle of St. George guards the southern end of the town. Their ramparts now welcome strollers and summer cultural events, with lovely views over the strait and the hills of Epirus.

An inland sea

Beyond the channel lies the Ambracian Gulf, a true enclosed sea dotted with lagoons and sandbanks, where fishermen share the waters with dolphins and Dalmatian pelicans nesting in the protected wetlands. Boat trips leave from the harbour in the fine season; failing that, the northern waterfront promenade already offers wide views over this stretch of water where sailboats lie at anchor.

Practical pointers

Before setting sail

One last Greek coffee by the water, while fishermen untangle their nets, sums up this stop well: Preveza does not seek to dazzle; it lets history and the gulf speak for it. Two thousand years after Actium, you leave the harbour thinking that some shores have never ceased to be strategic, nor welcoming.