Chalkidiki

Chalkidiki Περιφερειακή ενότητα Χαλκιδικής
—  Regional unit  —
Municipalities of Chalkidiki
Chalkidiki within Greece
Coordinates: 40°20′N 23°30′E
Country	Greece
Region	Central Macedonia
Capital	Polygyros
Government
• Vice Governor	Ioannis Giorgos
Area
• Total	2,918 km2 (1,127 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	105,908
• Density	Bad rounding here36/km2 (Bad rounding here94/sq mi)
Postal codes	63x xx
Area codes	237x0, 239x0
ISO 3166 code	GR-64
Car plates	ΧΚ
Website	www.halkidiki.gov.gr

Chalkidiki, also Halkidiki, Chalcidice or Chalkidike (Greek: Χαλκιδική, [xalciðiˈci]), is a peninsula in northern Greece, and one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Macedonia. The autonomous Mount Athos region is part of the peninsula, but not of the regional unit. The capital of Chalkidiki is the main town of Polygyros, located in the centre of the peninsula.

Geography

Map of ancient Chalcidice.

Monastery in Mount Athos, an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Cholomontas mountains lie in the northcentral part of Chalkidiki. Chalkidiki consists of a large peninsula in the northwestern Aegean Sea, resembling a hand with three "fingers" (though in Greek these peninsulas are often referred to as "legs") – Pallene (now Kassandra), Sithonia, and Agion Oros (the ancient Acte), which contains Mount Athos and its monasteries. Chalkidiki borders on the regional unit of Thessaloniki to the north.

Its largest towns are Nea Moudania (Νέα Μουδανιά), Nea Kallikrateia (Νέα Καλλικράτεια) and the main town of Polygyros (Πολύγυρος).

There are several summer resorts on the beaches of all three fingers where other minor towns and villages are located, such as at Yerakini (Gerakina Beach), Neos Marmaras (Porto Carras), Ouranoupolis, Nikiti, Psakoudia, Kallithea (Pallene/Pallini, Athos), Sani Resort and more.

History

The first Greek settlers in this area came from Chalcis and Eretria, cities in Euboea, around the 8th century BC who founded cities such as Mende, Toroni and Scione;^{[citation needed]} a second wave came from Andros in the 6th century BC.^{[citation needed]} The ancient city of Stageira was the birthplace of the great philosopher Aristotle.

In June 2003, at the holiday resort Porto Carras located in Neos Marmaras, Sithonia, European Union leaders presented the first draft of the European constitution. See History of the European Constitution for developments after this point.

Ancient sites

Sunset in Chalkidiki

Cholomondas mountain.

Exterior view of Porto Carras Hotel in Sithonia.

Beach in Sykia.

Beach in Toroni.

Traditional style square in Nikiti.

Traditional kafeneion in Agios Nikolaos.

Bust of Aristotle in National Museum of Rome.

• Acanthus
• Acrothoi
• Aege
• Alapta
• Aphytis
• Apollonia (Chalcidice)
• Charadrus
• Cleonae (Chalcidice)
• Galepsus
• Mekyberna
• Mende
• Neapolis, Chalcidice
• Olophyxus
• Olynthus
• Palaiochori "Neposi" castle
• Polichne
• Potidaea
• Scione
• Scolus
• Sermylia
• Stageira
• Spartolus
• Thyssus
• Torone

Tourism

Chalkidiki is popular summer tourist destination since late 1950's when people from Thessaloniki started spending their summer holidays at the coastal villages. At the beginning tourists rented rooms in the houses of the villagers. By the 1970s few tourists from Austria and Germany started to visit Chalkidiki more frequently. Since start of the big tourist boom in the 1980s the whole region is captured by tourism.

Mining

As of 2013 a revival of mining for gold and other minerals was underway with a number of concessions having been granted to Eldorado Gold of Canada. Gold was mined in the region in antiquity and environmental damage is present. Corruption, environmental damage, and only ephemeral economic benefits are feared.

Administration

The regional unit Chalkidiki is subdivided into five municipalities. These are (number as in the map in the infobox):

• Aristotelis (2)
• Kassandra (4)
• Nea Propontida (3)
• Polygyros (1)
• Sithonia (5)

Prefecture

As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Chalkidiki was created out of the former prefecture Chalkidiki (Greek: Νομός Χαλκιδικής). The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.

New municipality	Old municipalities	Seat
Aristotelis	Arnaia	Ierissos
	Panagia
	Stagira-Akanthos
Kassandra	Kassandra	Kassandreia
	Pallini
Nea Propontida	Kallikrateia	Nea Moudania
	Moudania
	Triglia
Polygyros	Polygyros	Polygyros
	Anthemountas
	Zervochoria
	Ormylia
Sithonia	Sithonia	Nikiti
	Toroni

Provinces

• Province of Chalkidiki – Polygyros
• Province of Arnaia

Note: Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece.

Television

• TV Halkidiki – Nea Moudania
• Super TV – Nea Moudania

Transport

• Motorways:
  • A25 (Thessaloniki, Airport, Nea Moudania)

• Chalkidiki has no railroads or airports.
• A bus system, KTEL, serves major municipalities.

Notable inhabitants

• Paeonius of Mende (late 5th-century BC), sculptor
• Philippus of Mende, Plato's student, astronomer
• Nicomachus, Aristotle's father
• Aristobulus of Cassandreia (375–301 BC), historian, architect
• Aristotle (384 BC in Stageira–322 BC), philosopher
• Andronicus the Olynthian (c. 370 BC), Phrourarchus of Tyre, appointed by Antigonus
• Callisthenes (360–328 BC), historian
• Crates of Olynthus, Alexander's hydraulic engineer
• Bubalus of Cassandreia (304 BC), keles (horse) competing in the flat race of the Lykaia
• Poseidippus of Cassandreia (c. 310 – c. 240 BC), comic poet
• Erginus (son of Simylus) from Cassandreia, citharede winner in Soteria c. 260 BC
• Athanasios Stageiritis, professor of Greek language at the Imperial Academy in Vienna. Publisher of the fortnightly literary journal "Kalliope" in Vienna from 1819 to 1821
• Stamatios Kapsas, revolutionary of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1830)
• Kyrkos Papageorgakis, revolutionary of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1830)
• Archbishop Demetrios of America
• Kosmas Doumbiotis (1822-1922), Greek army officer
• Georgios Papanikolaou (1875 in Polygyros–1949), doctor, author, fighter of Greek Struggle for Macedonia and founder of the pan-chalcidikian association of Thessaloniki (1903)
• Manolis Mitsias (1944 in Doumpia), singer
• Sokratis Malamas (1957 in Sykia), singer
• Georgios Samaras, footballer (from his father's, Ioannis Samaras, side)
• Christos Zabounis, a pro-royalist author and editor

See also

• Chalkidian League
• List of settlements in Chalkidiki