Pythio

This article is about the village in western Thrace, on the Greek border with Turkey. For the village in Thessaly, see Pythio, Larissa.
For the ancient city in Thessaly, see Pythion.
Pythio
Πύθιο

Pythio railway station
Pythio
Coordinates: 41°22.85′N 26°36.64′E / 41.38083°N 26.61067°E / 41.38083; 26.61067Coordinates: 41°22.85′N 26°36.64′E / 41.38083°N 26.61067°E / 41.38083; 26.61067
Country Greece
Administrative region East Macedonia and Thrace
Regional unit Evros
Municipality Didymoteicho
Municipal unit Didymoteicho
Lowest elevation 55 m (180 ft)
Community
  Population 556
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
  Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code 683 00
Area code(s) 25520

Pythio (Greek: Πύθιο), sometimes referred to as Pythion, is a village and community in the eastern part of Didymoteicho municipality, Evros regional unit, Greece. It is 16 km east of the centre of Didymoteicho, on the right bank of the river Evros, where it forms the border with Turkey. There is no road border crossing near Pythio.

The community of Pythio consists of the villages of Pythio, Rigio and Pythio railway station (Greek: Σταθμός Πυθίου Stathmos Pythiou). The nearest villages are Petrades to the south and Asimenio to the northwest.

Railway

Pythio is a railway junction where the railway to Ormenio and Bulgaria branches off the main line from Thessaloniki to Istanbul through Alexandroupoli and Uzunköprü. The railway was built by the Chemins de fer Orientaux (CO), managed by Maurice de Hirsch, as part of the CO's contract to build a line from Istanbul to Vienna. The railway reached Pythio, known as Kuleliburgaz during Ottoman rule,[1] in 1873, when the line from Istanbul to Edirne and Bulgaria was opened.[2] A 112 km branch from Pythio to Alexandroupoli (then known as Dedeağaç) was opened in 1874.

When the railway was built it was all within the Ottoman Empire. Under the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923, a new border between Greece and Turkey was established at the Evros river, just east of Pythio, which had the result that the railway from Istanbul to Bulgaria entered Greece at Pythio, then re-entered Turkey at Edirne (Karaağaç railway station), re-entered Greece at Marasia, and finally entered Bulgaria between Ormenio and Svilengrad. This arrangement continued until 1971, when two new lines were opened. In Turkey the Edirne Cut-off was opened to allow trains from Istanbul to Bulgaria to run through Edirne entirely on Turkish territory, so that trains such as the Orient Express no longer had to stop at Pythio. In Greece a line was opened to allow trains from Pythio to Bulgaria to stay on Greek territory and avoid Edirne.

Historical population

Year Town population Municipal district population
1981 1,186 -
1991 734 951
2001 556 747

Sites of interest

See also

References

  1. I. Zartaloudis, D. Karatolos, D. Koutelidis, G. Nathenas, S. Fasoulas, A. Filippoupolitis, A. (1997). Οι Ελληνικοί Σιδηρόδρομοι (Hellenic Railways) (in Greek). Μίλητος (Militos). pp. 115–123. ISBN 960-8460-07-7.
  2. Trains of Turkey website

External links

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