Neos Marmaras harbour The area of Neos Marmaras, on the south-western coast of Sithonia, occupies a gently curved shoreline on the Toronean Gulf, backed by wooded hills and inland valleys. While today it appears as a modern seaside town, its landscape reflects a much older pattern of human use, shaped by agriculture, pastoralism, and monastic…
Gerakini anchorage The area of Nikiti, on the western side of Sithonia, shows continuous human presence from antiquity to the present day, functioning historically as an intermediate zone between the hinterland of Chalkidiki and the Thermaic–Toroneos Gulf. Although it never developed into a major ancient urban centre, its position gave it a lasting agricultural, religious,…
Pier in Pefkochori Southern Kassandra, as the natural maritime extremity of ancient Pallene, was never a random or marginal landscape. Its geography—low-lying coasts, sandy coves, wetlands, and points offering uninterrupted visibility across the Toroneos Gulf—favoured early human activity, primarily of a seasonal nature. The presence of wetland formations, such as modern Glarokavos, points to areas…
Nea Skioni and harbour Nea Skioni is a modern coastal village on the Kassandra peninsula whose very name is a deliberate link to the ancient city of Skione that once stood nearby. In practical terms, today’s settlement grew around the shore where seasonal fishing activity already existed, and it gradually became the permanent community and…
Cape and tower of Sani The Kassandra Peninsula, known in antiquity as Pallene, is one of the most historically active areas of Halkidiki. Its position between the Thermaic Gulf and the Toronean Gulf gave it long-lasting strategic, maritime, and political importance. Within this setting, Sani, on the western side of the peninsula, illustrates how this…
The channel in Nea Potidaia Antiquity: Ancient Potidaea and the Isthmus of Kassandra The history of Nea Potidaia begins in ancient Potidaea, a powerful city founded around 600 BC by settlers from Corinth at the narrow isthmus linking the mainland to the Kassandra Peninsula. This position gave Potidaea exceptional strategic value, controlling both land routes…
Nea Moudania harbour Before the modern Nea Moudania was founded in 1922, there existed an ancient town in Asia Minor, Moudania, known today as Mudanya. This once-thriving coastal town, located on the Sea of Marmara, had a rich history stretching back to antiquity. Moudania played a crucial role in the Byzantine and Ottoman periods and…
Harbour in Nea Kallikrateia Nea Kallikrateia is a modern settlement founded in the early 1920s, created almost entirely by Greek refugees from Asia Minor following the Asia Minor Catastrophe of AD 1922. Its founders came primarily from Kallikrateia in Eastern Thrace, near the Sea of Marmara, bringing with them their customs, religious traditions, and maritime…
Nea Michaniona, from SE Nea Michaniona was founded in 1922 by refugees from Asia Minor, mainly from the old Michaniona (in present-day Turkey), who settled on the shores of the Thermaic Gulf after the Asia Minor Catastrophe. The first inhabitants brought with them strong maritime and fishing traditions, as well as tight community bonds, which…
Thessaloniki, from S Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BC by Cassander, king of Macedon, who unified several smaller coastal settlements around the Thermaic Gulf into a new, powerful city and named it after his wife, the half-sister of Alexander the Great. The city’s position, at the head of a naturally sheltered gulf and on the…