Kallikratia is the most recent municipality of the
Halkidiki
district. It came about through the fusion of the villages of
Nea
Kallikratia,
Agios Pavlos
and
Nea Iraklia. The municipality
of Kallikratia has 5,480 inhabitants and it is 40 kilometers from
Thessaloniki.
The three villages were founded after the uprooting from
Asia
Minor in 1922, by people who mainly originated from Kallikratia, Araklia Gialus
in
Eastern Thrace (the part
of
Turkey that is on the
European continent). They settled in the area of "Stomion", where a
metoche of the
Xenophon
Monastery of the Holy Mountain used to be. There are indications that the
area was also inhabited in prehistoric times, but these have not been confirmed.
Excavations here have revealed a burial stele, which was dated to
be of the 5th century B.C. (ca. 440 B.C.), with a pediment on which a relief depicts
a young woman with a dove on her arm. This finding is now kept at the
archeological
museum of Thessaloniki.
Also of great archeological interest is the acropolis of
Antigonia,
which is near the
village of Nea
Gonia. It was built on a site with natural protection by king of
Macedonia
Gonata in the year 280 B.C. Its name continued to live through Byzantine times
by the two villages called Ano Antigonia (Upper Antigonia) and Kato Antigonia
(Lower Antigonia). Near N. Kallikratia to the right on the coast is the
village
N. Iraklia, also a refugees’ village. Here a relic box was found dated
to the fourth or fifth century with carved representations of the Old and New
Testament on its four sides. (This finding is also kept at the
Archeological
Museum of Thessaloniki). The many summer tourists find a place to spend the
night in the hotels or they rent a room. There are plenty of restaurants, taverns,
pastry houses, pubs and disco clubs. In Kallikratia there are offices of ELTA
(National Post) and OTE (Greek Telecom), there are doctors, vets and drugstores,
modern car repair workshops etc. The area is famous for its fruit, its grapes
and its garden products and also for fish products.
If you decide to spend your holidays near the sea, come to visit Kallikratia.
Here your summer days will become an unforgettable period of time. After a pleasant
day, on its beautiful beaches, "night life" begins. For you evening
outgoing there are many and wonderful choices. It is sure there is something suitable
for you too! You can spend the evening with your family, or at a discotec, or
a bar, a restaurant or even a fish tavern and all the other shops next to the
sea, which offer delicious energy.
A summer in Kallikratia is a real source of energy against cities’
cold winters.
This text is cited November 2003 from the Municipality
of Kallikratia tourist pamphlet.
