Kymi (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: , ) is a coastal town and a former municipality (7,112 inhabitants in 2011) in the island of

Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, named after an ancient Greek place of the same name. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

Kymi-Aliveri Kymi-Aliveri ( el, Κύμη-Αλιβέρι) is a municipality in the Euboea regional unit, Central Greece, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Aliveri. The municipal unit has an area of 804.983 km2. Municipality The municipality Kymi ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 167.616 km². The ancient Euboean Kyme is mentioned as a harbor town related to the more prominent ''

poleis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

'' of

Chalkis Chalcis ( ; Ancient Greek & Katharevousa: , ) or Chalkida, also spelled Halkida (Modern Greek: , ), is the chief town of the island of Euboea or Evia in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from ...

and

Eretria Eretria (; el, Ερέτρια, , grc, Ἐρέτρια, , literally 'city of the rowers') is a town in Euboea, Greece, facing the coast of Attica across the narrow South Euboean Gulf. It was an important Greek polis in the 6th and 5th centur ...

in antiquity. Together with these, it is sometimes named as the founding ''metropolis'' of the homonymous Kymē (Cumae) in Italy, an important early Euboean colony, which was probably named after it. There are few or no archaeological traces of ancient Euboean Kyme, and its exact location is not known. A

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

settlement has been excavated in nearby Mourteri. Some modern authors believe that Kyme never existed as an independent ''polis'' in historical times but that it was a mere village dependent on either Chalkis or Eretria.

Attractions

Kymi is a small town and the surrounding region overlooks the Aegean Sea. Due to its vantage point, Kymi is sometimes called "The Balcony of the Aegean". Kymi has one of the largest man-made ports in the country and serves as a transportation hub for the eastern Aegean Islands and northern Greece. The city Kymi is considered the greenest of Greece in terms of native vegetation and is second all in clean sand beaches. There are numerous tourist and sightseeing attractions, such as the house of the noted pathologist and researcher George Papanicolaou, inventor of the

Pap smear The Papanicolaou test (abbreviated as Pap test, also known as Pap smear (AE), cervical smear (BE), cervical screening (BE), or smear test (BE)) is a method of cervical screening used to detect potentially precancerous and cancerous processes in t ...

, the Folklore Museum of Kymi, the Monastery of the Transfiguration, three small Byzantine churches in Oxilithos, the Archaeological Collection and the Archaeological Sites, and a ruined Venetian tower in San handkerchief etc. The most well known agricultural products produced in Kymi are figs, cherries and olive oil. Local specialties include the "cocoon display," handicrafts made from cocoons, and sweets such as baklava and almond.

Notable Kymiotes

Georgios Papanikolaou Georgios Nikolaou Papanikolaou (or George Papanicolaou ; el, Γεώργιος Ν. Παπανικολάου ; 13 May 1883 – 19 February 1962) was a Greek physician who was a pioneer in cytopathology and early cancer detection, and inventor of ...

(1883–1962), physician, a pioneer in cytology and early cancer detection, and the inventor of the

Pap test The Papanicolaou test (abbreviated as Pap test, also known as Pap smear (AE), cervical smear (BE), cervical screening (BE), or smear test (BE)) is a method of cervical screening used to detect potentially precancerous and cancerous processes in t ...

for cervical cancer * Major

Ioannis Velissariou Ioannis Velissariou ( el, Ιωάννης Βελισσαρίου, 26 November 1861 – 13 July 1913) was a Hellenic Army officer and hero of the Balkan Wars. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in the military history of m ...

(1861–1913), popular hero of the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

* Admiral

Nikolaos Pappas Nikolaos Pappas ( el, Νικόλαος Παππάς; 21 June 1930 – 5 April 2013) was a Hellenic Navy admiral who, as commander of the destroyer , played a major part in the abortive rebellion of the Navy in May 1973 against the ruling military ...

(1930–2013), commander of the destroyer , mutinied in 1973 in protest against the

Regime of the Colonels In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...

, later Chief of the Navy and government minister.

Climate

Transportation

The road network in the Kymi region is quite underdeveloped. There is only one major road (regional road) connecting the city of Kymi with Chania Avlonariou (a part of

Avlonari Avlonari ( el, Αυλωνάρι) is a village and a community (unit) of the Municipality Kymi-Aliveri, in the eastern part of the Aegean island of Euboea, Greece. It was the seat of the municipality of Avlon, Ancient Aulon (hence the name; has h ...

Aliveri Aliveri ( el, Αλιβέρι) is a town and a community in the island of Evvoia, Greece. It is part of the municipal unit Tamyneoi, and the seat of the municipality Kymi-Aliveri. Aliveri is situated in the western part of the island, on the S ...

and from there to the

Greek National Road 44 National Road 44 ( el, Εθνική Οδός 44, abbreviated as EO44) is a single carriageway road in central Greece. It connects Thebes with Karystos on southern Euboea, via Chalcis and Eretria. The total length of the GR-44 is nearly 160 ...

towards

and

Karystos Karystos ( el, Κάρυστος) or Carystus is a small coastal town on the Greece, Greek island of Euboea. It has about 5,000 inhabitants (12,000 in the municipality). It lies 129 km south of Chalkis. From Athens it is accessible by ferry ...

Sports

Kymi has a few basketball courts, as well as an outdoor football pitch. There is also a sports club called Kymi Sports Club, with teams in football, basketball and volleyball.

References

{{Kymi-Aliveri div Populated places in Euboea Ancient Euboea Cities in ancient Greece