Alexandroupolis: Greece's gateway to Turkey

Easternmost city of mainland Greece, Alexandroupoli overlooks a nineteenth-century lighthouse across a stretch of the Aegean just kilometers from the Turkish border.

The center, Greece's gateway to Turkey, is comfortably explored on foot along the waterfront.

The Lighthouse of Alexandroupoli, a symbol of the city built in 1880, remains one of the most photographed lighthouses of northern Greece on the city waterfront.

Just nearby, the Yeni Mosque, built during the Ottoman era, recalls the centuries when the city was part of the Turkish empire before returning to Greece in the twentieth century.

Continuing, you visit the Ethnological Museum of Thrace, which tells the traditions of the peoples of Greek Thrace, a border region between Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria.

As evening falls, the city waterfront, animated by cafés and restaurants, closes the day with a view of the island of Samothrace on the horizon.

Alexandroupoli changed hands among Ottoman, Bulgarian, and Greek rule multiple times during the twentieth century, even bearing a Bulgarian name, Dedeagach, before permanently returning to Greek sovereignty after World War I.

Alexandroupoli's lighthouse, standing over thirty-two meters tall, remains functional today and guides ships along a stretch of coast historically contested between regional powers.