Thourio (Greek: Θούριο) is a village in the northern part of the Evros regional unit, in

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 ...

. Thourio belongs to the municipality of

Orestiada Orestiada ( el, Ορεστιάδα, formerly , ''Nea Orestiás''), is the northeasternmost, northernmost and newest city of Greece and the second largest town of the Evros regional unit of Thrace. Founded by Greek refugees from Edirne after the ...

. It is located between Orestiada to the north and

Didymoteicho Didymoteicho ( el, Διδυμότειχο, Didymóteicho ) is a city located on the eastern edge of the Evros regional unit of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, in northeastern Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name. The town ...

to the south, about 4 km west of the river Evros, that forms the border with

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

here. The nearest villages are

Neo Cheimonio Neo Cheimonio () is a village in the municipality of Orestiada in the northern part of the Evros regional unit in Greece. It is 6 km south of the centre of Orestiada. Neo Cheimonio is situated on the Greek National Road 51 (Feres - Soufli - ...

to the north and Sofiko to the south. Thourio is on the

Greek National Road 51 Greek National Road 51 ( el, Εθνική Οδός 51, abbreviated as EO51) is a single carriageway road in northeastern Greece. It connects the Greek National Road 2 (Florina - Thessaloniki - Alexandroupoli - Turkey) near Feres with the Bulgar ...

(Feres - Soufli - Didymoteicho - Orestiada - Ormenio - Svilengrad), and has a station on the Ormenio - Didymoteicho railway. Thourio lies 30 metres above sea level and is a lowland village with a fertile plain.

Population

Today approximately 700 people live permanently in Thourio and are engaged in agriculture, trade or are employees of the private or public sector or are retired. In Thourio there is a church, a special education school, a rural doctor's office and other small businesses as well as the community store of the local district of Thourio in the municipality of Orestiada. In Thourio you can also find a small football club "ASPIS", and dance group "TO ELEFTHEROCHORI". The village has historically also been settled by

Arvanites Arvanites (; Arvanitika: , or , ; Greek: , ) are a bilingual population group in Greece of Albanian origin. They traditionally speak Arvanitika, an Albanian language variety, along with Greek. Their ancestors were first recorded as settl ...

. Famous people from Thourio include actor Yannis Stankoglou and singer Stefania Liberakakis who represented Greece in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was set to host the ...

History

In the present position of Thourio during the Ottoman Empire was a Turkish village, Urlu. With the exchange of populations in 1922, it was inhabited by the Greek Christian inhabitants who came to Urlu from various other parts of Thrace, mainly eastern Thrace. The refugee inhabitants of Thourio were mainly farmers. During the 20th century, the development of Thourio's economy was mainly based on the cultivation of the land, however, later some engaged in trade, others became craftsmen, and others servants. Some of the inhabitants of Thourio emigrated to other parts of Greece, particularly in the 60's when almost half of the village's population immigrated to countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Brazil, Australia and elsewhere.

External links

Thourio on GTP Travel Pages

References

{{Orestiada div Populated places in Evros (regional unit) Albanian communities of Western Thrace

Population

History

See also

External links

References