The village of Pyrgadikia, with around 600 inhabitants, seems like an island from afar! It is built amphitheatrically on the slopes of a hill, surrounded by many small, beautiful beaches that unfold like lace along the Singitic Gulf. After the Asia Minor Catastrophe, refugees from the village of Afthoni, located on the Marmara Island in the Black Sea, arrived in this area. In 1925, they founded Pyrgadikia, following a functional urban planning design.
According to a local version, the village’s name is likely derived from the “agros of the periphery of Gardikia,” which is mentioned in documents from the Dochiariou Monastery on Mount Athos in 1057. In the Byzantine-era documents, however, the settlement is referred to by its current name. The inhabitants’ occupations, in addition to traditional olive cultivation and fishing (the village has a fishing refuge), include providing tourism services.
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A large festival takes place on September 8th, in honor of the church of the Nativity of the Theotokos. The icon of the Virgin Mary, called “Kastrela,” was brought by the refugees.
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