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Alexandroupolis
At Thrace (Thraki) Evros-Alexandroupoli occupies the northeastern corner of Greece. Today it is considered to be a place where the east meets the west in a perfect harmony, as it is the connecting link between Asia and Europe. It is a special place with a very rich history, relatively untouched by the tourism explosion. Neolithic finds, antiquities dating from the Hellenistic era, Roman and Byzantine monuments, can be found everywhere in Thrace. To the north it meets the Rodopi mountain range, whose foothills become fertile plains to the south. The lakes and wetlands of Thrace are among the most important in Europe with perhaps more than three hundred protected species of birds. More than 200,000 wild water-birds spend their winter here. The flora has drawn the attention of ecologists. The 2.700 years of the Greek history and civilization are a characteristic of the Thracians, who had the same Gods as the other Greeks (Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hermes, Dionysus, Asclepius, Heracles, the Nymphs, and so on).
Abdera, the largest "Ionian" city in Thrace, was founded in 545 BC.
The legendary founder of Adbera was Heracles, who built the city in
honour of his friend Abderous, who had been torn to pieces by the
man-eating horses of Diomedes, king of the Bistonians. Excavations have uncovered parts of the walls of the ancient city, the site of the destroyed theater and houses of the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods. The graves in the large cemeteries have produced grave goods, dating from the Archaic to the Hellenic periods. Excavations have also revealed parts of the walls and the city towers, the foundations of the Sanctury of Dionysus, a large house with many rooms and a fine mosaic floor, a monumental Roman propylon and the city theater in the Hellenistic and Romans periods.
The town of Mesembria was a Samothracian colony of the late 7th century and is mentioned by Herodotus. It is sometimes called 'Aegean' Mesembria to distinguish it from another site of the same name on the Euxine. Finally, the most conspicuous part of the site (fenced) is an unusual fortified settlement which occupies only the south-west corner of the whole walled are, which included an acropolis to the north. The defensive circuit can be traced at many points on the ground but is most easily appreciated in the area of the fortified settlement, against which it is built. The east part of the fortifications of the city (which have three north-south arms) may belong to the first period of settlement, with an acropolis at that time on the east hill.
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One
of the most outstanding features of its landscapes are the wetlands
made by the big rivers Evros and the Nestos, that cut through it.
Its antiquities date from the Paleolithic era with the appearance of
the first Thracian tribes to the period of Roman domination (2nd and
3rd century B.C.), when its civilization reached its peak.
The
fortsess-town of Demotika played an
important part in Byzantine history. In 1189 during the Third
Crusade Frederick Barbarossa held the town hostage while negotiating
with the Emperor Isaac II Angelos. Hither the wounded Michael IX
fled after his defeat by the Catalan Grand Company at Aprus (1305),
and here in 1341 John VI Cantacuzene had himself proclaimed emperor.
The town fell to the Turks in 1361 and Murad I made it his capital
for four years before transferring to Adrianopole; his son Bayezid
was born here. Charles XII of Sweden lay at Demotika in 1713-14, a
virtual prisoner of Ahmed III, to whose dominions he had fled after
the Battle of Poltava.- RAM UNIVERSAL STUDIOS -