Paralia (, ''Paralía'', meaning "beach") is a tourist seaside settlement and a former municipality in the eastern part of the Pieria regional unit,

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

Katerini Katerini (, ''Kateríni'', ) is a city and municipality in northern Greece, the capital city of Regional Unit of Piera in Central Macedonia, Greece. It lies on the Pierian plain, between Mount Olympus and the Thermaikos Gulf, at an altitude ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The seat of the municipality was in

Kallithea Kallithea (Greek language, Greek: Καλλιθέα, meaning "beautiful view") is a suburb in Athens#Athens Urban Area, Athens agglomeration and a municipality in South Athens (regional unit), south Athens regional unit. It is the eighth larges ...

. The 2021 census reported a population of 928 for the community of Paralia, and 6,228 for the municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 24.344 km², the community 1.849 km². Paralia Katerinis actually translated "Beach of Katerini" and is the closest beach to the capital city of

Historical data

The settlement was founded by fishermen after 1922. Its inhabitants were refugees from Cius in

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. At first, they settled in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

. Some of them left and went to Davlia where the inhabitants welcomed them. They made a living from agriculture and fruit farming. After living there for a while, they decided to leave, some to the north and some to the south. Those who moved north arrived at Paralia in the Municipality of Paralia and settled in because the area reminded them of their place. Paralia’s previous name was ''Vromeroskala'' (Βρωμερόσκαλα).

Geography

Paralia is situated on the west coast of the

Thermaic Gulf The Thermaic Gulf (, ), also called the Gulf of Thessaloniki and the Macedonian Gulf, is a Gulf (geography), gulf constituting the northwest corner of the Aegean Sea. The city of Thessaloniki is at its northeastern tip, and it is bounded by Pie ...

. It lies 2 km east of Kallithea, 5 km south of Korinos and 8 km east of Katerini's city centre. The A1 motorway (served by Katerini's North & South Interchanges) and the Piraeus–Platy railway (served by Katerini RR station) pass west of the settlement. Paralia has a fishing port and the

Hellenic Coast Guard The Hellenic Coast Guard () is the national coast guard of Greece. Like many other coast guards, it is a paramilitary organization that can support the Hellenic Navy in wartime, but resides under separate civilian control in times of peace. The ...

Katerini's department.

Historical population

Gallery

References

External links