Alexandroupolis: Guide, Hotels, Map & Photos
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EUR 62 - 165 Nefeli Hotel
 Nefeli Hotel overlooks the Aegean Sea and Samothrace and is situated at the entrance of Alexandroupolis. It offers spacious rooms with free internet a… MoreEUR 60 - 130 Hotel Erika
 The centrally located Hotel Erika in Alexandroupolis offers rooms with sea view. It is just 100 metres from the lighthouse and the port. The bus and t… MoreEUR 50 - 82 Panorama Classic Hotel
 As of 2007 this is the newest hotel in Alexandroupolis, the capital of Evros province in Thrace, beautifully situated atop a hill in the Nea Chili sub… MoreEUR 36 - 75 Plaza Hotel
 Hotel Plaza is located only 1.5 km from the city of Alexandroupolis. It offers rooms with sea or pool view, quick access to the sea (25m away) and fre… MoreEUR 64 - 155 Thraki Palace Hotel & Conference Center
 This deluxe 5-star hotel is located on a wonderful private beach at the west end of Alexandroupolis. A sea-view gourmet restaurant, top-rated conferen… MoreEUR 45 - 60 Hotel Baobab
 The Hotel Baobab is a small, sea-facing hotel that is 1 km away from the town centre and just a few minutes from the beach in Alexandroupolis.
Rooms … MoreEUR 40 - 60 Hili Hotel
 In the centre of Alexandroupoli , Hili Hotel offers a range of double and single rooms with free Wi-Fi along with free parking.
All rooms of the fami… MoreEUR 40 - 100 Apartment Hotel Athina
 Apartment Hotel Athina is a friendly hotel with spacious rooms
in the centre of one of the most developing cities in Northern Greece.
It offers a war… MoreEUR 45 - 60 Bell Air Hotel
 The Aegean Sea is just 2 km from this 3-star Alexandroupoli hotel. It offers a dining terrace, large outdoor pool and an indoor lounge with fireplace… MoreEUR 100 - 215 Classical Egnatia Grand
 In the beautiful northern city of Alexandroupoli, where the business and cultural worlds meet, this fully renovated legendary hotel stands out as the … MoreEUR 45 - 65 Hera Hotel
 Conveniently located in Alexandroupoli’s city centre, Hera Hotel offers air-conditioned rooms with free Wi-Fi. The port and main railway station are… MoreEUR 77 - 264 Alexander Beach Hotel & Spa
 Overlooking the azure waters of the Aegean Sea, Alexander Beach Hotel is situated on a seaside location just 2 km away from the city centre of Alexand… More | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alexandroupolis: Guide
Alexandroupoli (also Alexandroupolis, Turkish: Dedeağaç) is a city of Greece and the capital of the Evros Prefecture in Thrace.
Geography
Alexandroupoli is about 14.5 kilometres west of the mouth of the river Maritsa (Evros) and the border with Turkey, 300 kilometres from Thessaloniki with the new Via Egnatia|Egnatia highway, and 750 kilometres from Athens. At the 1991 census, the main city had a population of 36,994, and the municipality had a population of 38,220. Current metropolitan population estimated at about 70,000 inhabitants.
History
The city's history only goes back to the Turkish, meaning "tree of the monk"). The name was based on a local tradition of a wise dervish having spent much of his time in the shade of a local tree and being eventually buried beside it.
A small settlement developed in the area during the construction of a railway line connecting Constantinople to the major cities of Macedonia (region)|Macedonia. The work was part of an effort to modernise the Ottoman Empire, and was assigned to engineers from Austria-Hungary. The settlement soon grew into a fishing village, which also used the name Dedeagatch.
Dedeagatch was captured by the army of Russian history, 1855-1892|Imperial Russia during the last Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78|Russo–Turkish War of 1877–1878, and Russian forces settled in the village. The officers in charge put some effort into urban planning, with an emphasis on the design of wide streets, allowing the quick advance of troops. The streets run parallel to each other, and cul-de-sacs were avoided as too confusing. This was very unlike the narrow allies, cobbled streets, and dead-ends that were characteristic of Ottoman cities at the time. The city returned to Ottoman control by the end of the war, but the brief Russian presence has had a lasting influence in the design of Alexandroupoli' urban streets.
The building of a railway station in Dedeagatch led to the development of the village into a town, and a minor trade centre by the end of the century. The town became the seat of a Pasha with administrative duties. The Ottoman control of the town would last until the Balkan Wars. On 8 November 1912, Dedeagatch and its station was captured by Bulgarian forces with the assistance of the Hellenic Navy. Bulgaria and Greece were allies during the First Balkan War, but opponents in the Second Balkan War. Dedeagatch was captured by the Hellenic Army on 11 July 1913. This would prove short-lived, for the Treaty of Bucharest, 1913|Treaty of Bucharest (10 August 1913) determined that Dedeagatch would be returned to Bulgaria along with the rest of Western Thrace.
The defeat of Bulgaria by the Allies in World War I (1914 - 1918) ensured another change of hands for the town. The Treaty of Neuilly (27 November, 1919) required the ceding of Western Thrace from Bulgaria to Greece. However Bulgaria retained the right to use the port of Dedeagatch to transport goods through the Aegean Sea. The change of guard between Bulgarian and Greek officials occurred on May 14, 1920. The city was soon visited by Alexander I of Greece amidst great celebration. He was the first List of Kings of Greece|King of Greece to visit the town which was renamed in his honor.
Following the defeat of Greece in the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)|Greco-Turkish War (1919 - 1922), forces of the Hellenic Army retreated from Eastern Thrace to the area of Alexandroupoli under the leadership of General Theodoros Pangalos (general)|Theodoros Pangalos. Bulgaria used the opportunity of the Greek defeat to demand for Alexandroupoli to be either returned to its control or to be declared a neutral zone under international control. Both demands were rejected by the Greek leadership and found no support in the League of Nations.
The Treaty of Lausanne (24 July, 1923) affirmed that Western Thrace and Alexandroupoli
would continue to be controlled by Greece. The previous agreement allowing a Bulgarian presence in the town port had expired. Representatives of List of Prime Ministers of Greece|Greek Prime Minister Stylianos Gonatas offered a renewal of the agreement in an apparent attempt to improve the relationship between the two Balkan countries. Their Bulgarian counterparts informed List of Prime Ministers of Bulgaria|Prime Minister of Bulgaria Aleksandar Tsankov and returned with a negative reply.
Bulgaria used its alliance with Nazi Germany to regain control of Western Thrace during World War II (see Axis Occupation of Greece during WWII). Alexandroupoli remained under Bulgarian occupation between May, 1941 and 1945. The city suffered disaster of buildings and loss of population during the war but was largely spared of the effects of the Greek Civil War (1946 - 1949). Forces of the communist Democratic Army of Greece in and around the town area were small and loosely organized, resulting in the absence of major battles in the area.
The return of peace allowed for Alexandroupoli to grow from a town of 16,332 residents (1951) to a city of 35,999 residents by 1981.
Other
Alexandroupoli has schools, lyceums, gymnasia, banks, a post office, beaches, a sporting centre, a train station (Thessaloniki - Drama, Greece|Drama - Alexandroupoli) and squares (plateia|plateies).The medical school and the Department of educational Studies of the Democritus University of Thrace are situated there too.
Historical population
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Coordinates:
Communities of the Evros prefecture
This "Travel Guide" section is drawn from the Wikipedia article "Alexandroupolis". We hope you will edit and improve it. It is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also