Kalamaria

Kalamaria (Greek: Καλαμαριά) is a suburban city in the Thessaloniki Prefecture located about 5 km southeast of downtown Thessaloniki. The city is accessed with Konstantinos Karamanlis Avenue to the east which links with GR-16 superhighway to Chalkidiki and one with Nikis Avenue and the old highway to Chalkidiki. Another main road links with Thermi. The Thessaloniki Ring lies to the southeast and east which bypasses the urban cluster of Thessaloniki except Panorama less than 2/3 from the sea. The municipal population is ranked second in Macedonia as well as Northern Greece except Thessaly and ninth in Greece. The population boomed 8% from the 1991 census.

Historical population

Year	Municipal population	Change
1981	51,676	-
1991	80,698	29,022/56.16%
2001	87,312	6,614/8.2%

History

The area was first lived in the prehistoric times, and findings from that time are around the Karabournaki cape. Kalamaria was first appeared in 1083 and was mentioned in all parts southeast of Thessaloniki and not only the area of the present-day municipality. The name Kalamaria must mean Kali Meria ( Καλή Μεριά - nice place) or Skala Meria (σκάλα μεριά - the place of the Skala, which is the name for the Byzantine naval station). During the Byzantine and the Ottoman periods, the area was unhabited.

In 1920, the first refugees came from Georgia. Another round of refugees came during the Asia Minor Catastrophe in large numbers in 1922. The total were up to 100,000 refugees relocated to Thessaloniki especially in the suburbs. Many and these were mainly of Pontic descent relocaeted in Kalamaria. The Pontic population dominate much of the population especially in the present day.

The later years, the population began to boom to this day and today makes the second most populated municipality in Macedonia right after Kavala since the mid-1980s as well as Northern Greece except Thessaly. Today, the area is one of the best places of the city and and picked up from a large population.

Sporting teams

Kalamaria has 14 sporting teams including the most famous Apollon Kalamaria.

Other

Kalamaria has a schools, lyceums, gymnasia, churches, banks, a post office, a sporting field, a cinema, a port, a marina and squares (plateies).

External links

• Municipality of Kalamaria