Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Main pages for wider area of: "IERISSOS Small town HALKIDIKI" .
IERISSOS (Small town) HALKIDIKI
Tel: +30 23770 22216
Fax: +30 23770 22414
Ierissos is the oldest and biggest village of the Municipality with
3118 residents. It is reported by historians as the continuation of ancient Acanthus,
which was a colony of Andros
since the 7th century B.C and an important city of Macedonia. The local residents
deal mainly with fishing and tourism. During the more recent years, important
professional activity related to Mount Athos has also developed.
It constitutes an important harbour for Northern Greece with lots
of fishing activity.The fishes found in the gulf of Ierissos are well known for
their taste throughout all of Greece.
The sandy beaches as well as the live amusement offered in Ierissos
make it a unique place for vacations. The impressive social and cultural activity
of the residents roots go back centuries and a sample of this are the many traditional
songs that remain alive and are still sang up to today.
A lot of associations have been founded with a variety of activities,incuding
the cultural association "Kligenis", the association "Friends of
Environment", and the music association "Acanthus". There are also
lots of professional associations (fishing, trade, builders association etc).
NEA RODA (Village) HALKIDIKI
Tel: +30 23770 31023
Fax: +30 23770 31203
Nea Roda is the biggest refugee village in northern Halkidiki. It
was founded immediately after the Asia Minor destruction in a place called "Provlakas"
(= before the avlaki = before Xerxe's Canal ) by roughly 40 refugee families which,
after a year of roaming, reached Halkidiki in the summer of 23' and came to this
area.
They came from Roda in the area of Propontida
near the Marmara Sea or "Sea of the Greek spirit". In 1901, about 700 Greek people
lived in the village. According to tradition they were settlers from Roda. In
the village at that time there were also about 100 Turks living here, who had
come from Koutali in 1700, by a Turkish order.
The whole area but also the wider region is presented as paradise:
Rich sea and fertile soil. They produced silk from silkworm cocoons, granite in
blocks, fish, fruit, olives, grapes, onions and a lot of other products,which
they promoted with boats to Istambul.
They had three churches (biggest being the church of Saint Dimitris) and an upgraded
level of school. Up to 1912 they lived happily. Then things started to change
when new Turks arrived. In all the Greek Asia Minor villages, the fear of slaughter
and exile prevailed, with the known conclusion of that black August in 1922. The
people of Roda fled in two different ways : Two boats left for Mitilini,
while most pass over to the island of Aloni and afterwards over to the island
of Marmaras. After 20 days the ship called Propontis picked them up and took them
over to an area in Thessaloniki called Karabournaki, in order to end up in an
area called Saint Barbara in Ano Toumba.There
they scattered in small teams.
In 1923 the team in Mitilini is the one that reached this region first,
rejecting the place of current Ouranoupolis considering it small and narrow so
it resided for a few months off-handedly in Ierissos. There they proposed for
their new village to be established after the harbour of Ierissos, but the locals
were opposed to this in fear of future union. So they finally selected the place
"Provlakas" and gave it the obvious name "Nea Roda".
The new village began to attract more refugees. A signifant number
of them reached in privately-owned boats from Skopia ( or Skoupia), an area on
the island of Aloni, opposite and very near Roda. The residents were mainly seamen
and tradesmen. Religious as they were, they first took with them the miraculous
icon of the Virgin Mary, who today is the protectress and pride of Nea Roda. Families
from Eastern Thrace, but also from Haraki and Gonia of Kizikou also arrived. In
the meantime the other people of Roda residing elsewhere were informed of this
new found land and most of them, correspond to the call, and also come to Nea
Roda.
On the 14th of June in 1924 the exchange of populations began. The
last Greeks of Asia Minor were eradicated and entered Greece seeking a new homeland.
A big team from Kappadokia
in 1926 arrived in Nea Roda, and the village takes its final form. Antaval ( "Antavali's"
or "Antivalon") from the region of Nigdis in Kappadokia, was the homeland of this
team. The new village although turkish spoken, is completely greek with approx
1800 residents. The church of Saint Konstantine was built in the year 500 A.C.
and its ruins are preserved up to today. The name of the village emanates very
probably from the verb "antivallo" (= I oppose), because of the permanent litigation
with the turks. A place rocky, poor and barren, with marginal production, often
led the men for periodical work to Istamboul. Specifically in 1913-1923 they suffered
from Turkish pillages and lived in fear for their lives. When the command of abandonment
was given, with head leader their priest Agathaggelo, they left on their horsewagons
for Nigdi-Oulougousla and down to Mersina. After 1-2 months travelling north,
they reached the area of Saint George in Piraeus
and after Thessaloniki.
From there, a big part passed from Pirgadikia, Ouranoupolis and Orfani but due
to malaria and misfortunes they finally reached this region. For roughly 5 years
they resided in the surrounding area, and then, with the little help of the greek
government, they installed themselves and gave the village its current form.
Difficult years followed for all the residents. The nostalgia for
the homelands was expressed continuously with the wish "ante gia mas ke kali patrida!"
meaning 'to our health and a good return back to the homeland'. However there
was also the will for a new start. They opened upto the sea, they cultivated the
ground, and slowly - slowly progressed considerably.
There are barely any representatives alive of first generation of
refugees that may recall any of this however the knowledge of our history, is
precious for us, the younger generation.
STAGIRA (Village) HALKIDIKI
Tel: +30 23760 41335
Fax: +30 23760 41335
Stagira is the birthtown of Aristotles and the entrance to the Municipality
of Stagiron - Akanthou. It is found built on the foot the Stratoniki
Mountain (Strempenikos), at an altitude of 500 roughly metres. At the entrance
of the village, visitors can visit the park in which the Statue of Aristotles
stands proudly surrounded by monuments such as towers, public baths and the tower
of Madem Aga, from the period of Sidirokafsia. Sidirokafsia was the administrative
centre of the region,and had its own mint.
Further down going to the village, we see the central temple dedicated
to the "Birthday of the Virgin Mary". It is of great historical importance, and
was built in 1814 with the help of the Hilandari
Monastery on Mount Athos. Also very interesting is the small chapel dedicated
to the "Virgin Mary the Spilotissa" built in rock. In this area the
big village feast takes place , on the 8th of September. Visitors can walk in
the everygreen paths with a panoramic view. There are about 500 residents that
live in the village today and they deal mainly with the exploitation of mining
wealth and forests.
The beautiful and historical village of Stagira is located above the
central road of Thessaloniki
- Ouranoupolis approximately
8 kilometres from the sea.
STRATONIKI (Village) HALKIDIKI
Tel: +30 23760 41217
Fax: +30 23760 41469
Stratoniki is one of the mountainous villages within the Municipality,
with a panoramic view towards the gulf of Ierissos
and the peninsula of Athos.
It is one of the mademohoria and the locals - mainly during the old days - had
as main occupation mining. It is believed that the village was built by the king
of Macedonia Perdikas,in honour of his brother Stratonikis.
Stratoniki's big acne began in 1530 during the reign of the sultan
Souleiman the 1st. He reorganized the mines of the Ottoman empire, that were known
in the region since the Byzantine period such as Sidirokafsia and Siderokava.
During that time apart from Greeks, workers of many other nationalities (Bulgarians,
Serbs,Turks, Albanians, Jews, and even German as technicians) came to the area
in search of work. The acne of the mines turned Stratoniki into a big and flourishing
centre, as there were more than 6.000 workers, in the 500-600 furnaces, scattered
in the mountains. All this constituted a small Babel, as many languages were spoken
by the the workers of various origins. Greek, Spanish-Jewishand a lot of Balkan
languages.
The Jews practised mainly the money-changing profession and it seems
that there were many of them because they dominated the market. The Jewish money-changers
and Turkish tenants of the mines bought from the miners silver at state prices.
It is not therefore by no means strange if Spanish was imposed as the common language
of agreement. In any case, Greek and Serbian were spoken by the villagers in the
market where they came to in order to sell their products. Thus, when the Jews
kept their shops closed, the market would die down so consequently the days off
in Sidirokafsia were two, Saturdays for the Jews and Sundays for the Christians.
It has been determined that by the mid 16th century, the sultan took
from the mines, minerals valued about 20.000-30.000 golden coins. In Sidirokafsia
it is believed that a mint functioned since the period of Murat the 2nd ! (1421-1451).
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