The next concert: Mario Frangoulis SUMMER TOUR 2014 Love Needs Two with Elli Paspala AUGUST 2014 August 10th 2014: Chalkidiki | Moudania A little background information on Moudania: Nea Moudania (often referred to as Moudania, which is the name of the municipal unit the town belongs to) is the seat of the municipality of Nea Propontida, Chalkidiki, Greece and its main town. The town is located 60 km south of Thessaloniki and is considered to be the financial and commercial center of the regional unit of Chalkidiki.Nea Moudania hosts the Department of Fisheries & Aquaculture Technology of the Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki. The town also features a harbor which serves as Thessalonikis adjuvant. Nea Moudania was founded in 1923 by refugees of the areas of Moudania, Kios, Kalolimnos, Sigi, Eligmoi and the surrounding area of Proussa. The victims of the Asia Minor tragedy were faced with huge problems, mostly survival problems. The situation was desperate, as there was not an inhabited area around. The place mainly consisted of fields of the neighbouring villages, while the remaining parts were swamps, a breeding ground of bacteria. The only inhabitants were some fishermen and the olive plantation guard. The area was called ”Kargi Limani“, which in Turkish means ”leeward harbour“ and was marked with an anchor on nautical maps, just like Moudania of Vithynia, where the refugees came from. In 1925, this name was replaced by ”Nea Moudania“ (near means NEW in Greek). In August 1923 the first refugees arrived and tried to start a new in a place far from home. They opted for this area thanks to the immense olive plantation which is still there, to the west of the town, and the red rocks to the east. The help offered by the Reverend Saint of Kampania, Mr Diodoros, then president of the Committee for the Settlement of Refugees was substantial. The following extract from the book by Stavros Kouvrakis ”Nea Moudania“ gives an expressive account of the situation: ”One spring morning of 1923 Zafiris Zafiriou and an American friend of his got into a motorboat named ”Dolphin“ and pushed out. They were travelling eastwards along the coast of Halkidiki. It was dark, when they reached the shore of Epanomi. There was not a soul in sight. Only the village, at a distance of four kilometres from the shore. They spent the night on the beach and in the morning they pushed out again. Night was getting near, when they got to a place about four miles away from Kassandra. They turned off the motor immediately. That they did, seeing that they had found what they had been looking for in the surrounding area. A range of hillocks, in horseshoe shape, with the left side planted with olive trees with leaves glistening in the setting sun as they were stirred by the light land breeze, filled them with enthusiasm. Everybody knew about the cultivation of olive trees, as this blessed tree thrived everywhere on the coast of Asia Minor. In the distance, vast fields, suitable for vineyards, orchards, and granaries. Before them a small bay, with small vessels and two or three buildings. That was it. They made their decision on the spot“ Bibliography. ”Echoes from Moudania and the surrounding area“, distributed by the Municipality of Moudania.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 16:08:47 +0000