East Macedonia and Thrace is the northernmost of thirteen administrative regions of Greece and consists of the eastern part of Greek Macedonia and the Greek part of Thrace. The capital of the region is Komotini.
The historical areas of Macedonia include the regional areas of Drama, Kavala and Thasos; Thrace includes the areas Xanthi, Rodopi and Evros.
Alexandroupoli is located 14.5 km west of the mouth of the Maritsa/Evros/Meric river delta, 40 km from the Turkish border, 346 km east of Thessaloniki (via the new A2 via Egnatia motorway) and around 750 km northeast of the capital Athens. The nearest major cities are Komotini (around 60 km), the Turkish Edirne (around 140 km), the Bulgarian Kardzhali (around 170 km) or the Bosphorus metropolis Istanbul (around 300 km).
The start of construction of the Constantinople – Edirne railway line of the Oriental Railway in 1870, with a branch on the lower reaches of the Mariza towards the Aegean Sea, initiated the development of the city. The city was founded in 1871 under the name Dedeağaç as a port near the mouth of the Mariza River in the Ottoman Vilâyet Edirne.
The port has become a transshipment point for arms deliveries to NATO member states Greece, Bulgaria and Romania. Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, its importance has only increased. Greece and the US extended their military cooperation agreement for five years in October 2021.
For our way back to Turkey we had chosen Skopje in Macedonia and Thessalonica along the old Roman road Via Egnatia, the now well-developed highway A2 across Greece, which leads towards the Evros up to Kesan crossing the border of Turkey.
After our stopover in Vienna for further preparation of our project "A journey of Intimacy and Culture along Roman Roads" we had travelled along the former Autoput passing Croatia to Morovic (shortly before Belgrade), where we had stayed in a lovely private room rented out via the internet.
We were on our way to Turkey when the really sunny weather caused us to leave the highway modern Via Egnatia behind Kavala to circle Lake Vistonida.
We had already reported about our meeting with Suse and Axel on their way to New Zealand, which should now pass Turkey. Despite the current situation.