[Part 1]
Reading the latest thread by Krishtar on grids, I remembered two cases near my hometown, Thessaloniki.
(They relate to grids but these are road grids so I find that 'Roadways' is the closest subforum to add this to.)
Both are 'Active Urban Planning Zones' (AUPZ), settlement plans that are now abandoned, with only the roads completed.
The first is AUPZ 'Kissos' (ivy). It is found to the west of a mountain outside Thessaloniki called Hortiatis.
It is not the tallest of mountains but its point is good enough for a military radar to monitor almost all of the Northern Aegean.
Here is the most detailed article I found on Kissos, on Vice Greece, it is also the one with the most interesting photos.
In a nutshell, the Hortiatis Community together with an Engineers' consortium started a construction company to develop a settlement in Kissos.
Several convoluted beaurocratic cases and 'scandals' later, and since 2018, Kissos is now legally considered a 'forest', not an urban plan.
The urban plan is now dead.
This is how Kissos looks from above, the tip of the mountain with the radar is at the green dot:
Now, what I find interesting about Kissos and makes me believe that it is more than an abandoned plan are a couple of things.
First, is the satellite image above. You cannot find it written in the wiki entry on Hortiatis but I remember from school that Hortiatis is considered an inactive volcano.
Well, you can actually see it that the west slope of Hortiatis looks like it has collapsed in the past, exactly were the Kissos plain is found.
It looks even more like that on GoogleEarth 3D, below.
... and there is also the second thing interesting about Hortiatis that suggests the presence of an ancient settlement there:
So, there was an installation there, if that was a temple then there was probably also a town nearby.
I've never been to Kissos and knew nothing particular about it until a few months ago. It is an easy ride from Thessaloniki but needs you to dedicate half a day, family wouldn't follow me on winding roads just for crazy dad to take his photos and I would definitely not go there alone (the Greek countryside is still uber-safe but I have no love for lone rides). My technician friend and I have already planned for a photo-visit to Kissos (not the radar area, of course) since last September, if I remember, but, we are still here, lol. Anyway, I do not think that a visit to Kissos has much more to offer than the aerial photos we can all see (unless you go for some serious digging), but I'll keep you in touch...
[Part 2]
The other grid can be found on the south-east tip of the middle 'leg' of the holiday attraction that is the Chalkidiki peninsula, about 2hrs from Thessaloniki:
'AUPZ Sykia' (fig tree), near Kriaritsi beach.
I have actually been there once, together with my local amateur astronomy club for an all-night skywatching session and I must say this is one of the best places for skywatching in Greece, absolutely fantastic, with the sessions ending with sunrise next to Mount Athos. However, since it is a rather long distance from Thessaloniki we didn't go there often.
But, that was about 10 years ago, the streets had been layed several years before that and as you can see, in 2020 nothing has changed.
Still, abandoned...
The settlement does have a website with all the info about the project, about buying a site there, the almost complete infrastructure even for telecommunications, but, as you see, you are still greeted by ... cows and empty streets.
And that's all I know about.
Here is how it looks from the ground, with Mount Athos in the distance...
But, what else is in there? A 'Hellenistic' tower...
To be fair, there is nothing unusual about finding ancient ruins there, there are lots of them in the area and all over Chalkidiki, too.
However, the grid is eerily huge, for the precious real estate of Chalkidiki, stubbornly empty for almost two decades and that 'Hellenistic' tag always clings a bell to me; I believe there is more truth in the 'Ancient Greece' narrative than the completely fake 'Hellenistic' one.
I guess AUPZ Sykia hides something underground, too, (but nothing in the skies above...)
Reading the latest thread by Krishtar on grids, I remembered two cases near my hometown, Thessaloniki.
(They relate to grids but these are road grids so I find that 'Roadways' is the closest subforum to add this to.)
Both are 'Active Urban Planning Zones' (AUPZ), settlement plans that are now abandoned, with only the roads completed.
The first is AUPZ 'Kissos' (ivy). It is found to the west of a mountain outside Thessaloniki called Hortiatis.
It is not the tallest of mountains but its point is good enough for a military radar to monitor almost all of the Northern Aegean.
Here is the most detailed article I found on Kissos, on Vice Greece, it is also the one with the most interesting photos.
In a nutshell, the Hortiatis Community together with an Engineers' consortium started a construction company to develop a settlement in Kissos.
Several convoluted beaurocratic cases and 'scandals' later, and since 2018, Kissos is now legally considered a 'forest', not an urban plan.
The urban plan is now dead.
This is how Kissos looks from above, the tip of the mountain with the radar is at the green dot:
First, is the satellite image above. You cannot find it written in the wiki entry on Hortiatis but I remember from school that Hortiatis is considered an inactive volcano.
Well, you can actually see it that the west slope of Hortiatis looks like it has collapsed in the past, exactly were the Kissos plain is found.
It looks even more like that on GoogleEarth 3D, below.
What if 'AUPZ Kissos' was created to cover patterns of ancient elements on the ground
and ultimately seal the area from future excavations?
Is there a town or other structure buried under the collapsed side of Hortiatis?
Here is how the cut of the road looks like, entering Kissos. Looks too rocky to support my guess but there is that red soil layer on top ...and ultimately seal the area from future excavations?
Is there a town or other structure buried under the collapsed side of Hortiatis?
There are scattered pieces from an ancient temple(?) on the top!
Few people know about them and can see them and noone can photograph them, as this is a heavily restricted military area. However, a close friend of mine has visited the place a few times as a technician and had told me about that. I recalled it right after I saw the 3D image and guessed about a possible volcano (or mudflood?) collapse.So, there was an installation there, if that was a temple then there was probably also a town nearby.
I've never been to Kissos and knew nothing particular about it until a few months ago. It is an easy ride from Thessaloniki but needs you to dedicate half a day, family wouldn't follow me on winding roads just for crazy dad to take his photos and I would definitely not go there alone (the Greek countryside is still uber-safe but I have no love for lone rides). My technician friend and I have already planned for a photo-visit to Kissos (not the radar area, of course) since last September, if I remember, but, we are still here, lol. Anyway, I do not think that a visit to Kissos has much more to offer than the aerial photos we can all see (unless you go for some serious digging), but I'll keep you in touch...
[Part 2]
The other grid can be found on the south-east tip of the middle 'leg' of the holiday attraction that is the Chalkidiki peninsula, about 2hrs from Thessaloniki:
'AUPZ Sykia' (fig tree), near Kriaritsi beach.
But, that was about 10 years ago, the streets had been layed several years before that and as you can see, in 2020 nothing has changed.
Still, abandoned...
The settlement does have a website with all the info about the project, about buying a site there, the almost complete infrastructure even for telecommunications, but, as you see, you are still greeted by ... cows and empty streets.
And that's all I know about.
Here is how it looks from the ground, with Mount Athos in the distance...
However, the grid is eerily huge, for the precious real estate of Chalkidiki, stubbornly empty for almost two decades and that 'Hellenistic' tag always clings a bell to me; I believe there is more truth in the 'Ancient Greece' narrative than the completely fake 'Hellenistic' one.
I guess AUPZ Sykia hides something underground, too, (but nothing in the skies above...)
