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Samothraki Oregano
51.75 km from the center
About
Wild oregano grows freely on the slopes of Mount Saos on Samothraki, where the mountainous island climate gives it a particularly intense aroma and flavour. It is gathered and packaged by the island's Agricultural Cooperative, making it one of Samothraki's most recognisable products for visitors.
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Weather in Alexandroupoli
LiveFrom April to June and from September to October you get warm days, calm sea, and fewer crowds. July and August are hot and busy along the seafront, while winters stay mild but rainy.
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Makri olive oil consistently ranks among the world's finest extra virgin olive oils. It comes from the area's native olive variety, grown in groves stretching from west of Alexandroupoli, Nea Chili, Dikella and Mesimvria all the way to Maroneia in Rhodope, with some trees as old as 2,000 years. It received PDO status in 2020, prized for its intense fruity aroma, mild bitterness and bold, peppery finish. Leading local producers include the Kyklopas olive mill, built near the cave traditionally linked to Homer's Cyclops, and the family-run Konos. The 2023 wildfires badly damaged the grove, and many trees will need five to ten years to bear fruit again.
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FEATUREDThracian Trahanas
Evros trahanas stands apart from the rest of Greece: it's soured with durum wheat sourdough rather than milk, and always includes boiled, mashed vegetables, mainly Florina peppers, carrot, potato and yellow squash. Its vegan, fasting-friendly cousin, pumpkin trahanas, is made purely with squash, tomato and peppers with no dairy at all, giving it a deep orange colour and an especially sweet, rich flavour. Tahini or sesame add a complex, layered taste to the other versions. It's served as a soup or in a thicker, 'honeyed' style cooked with Evros sausages, chicken or meat, and is even stirred in small amounts into vegetable dishes to bulk them out. The recipe has passed down through generations for centuries despite being time-consuming to make. Home producers such as Dikaia Gi, Therapeion, Gaia (the Trigono Women's Agrotourism Cooperative), Kipos Ygeias and San Allote still make it the traditional way.
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Nea Vyssa, in northern Evros, is considered Greece's garlic-growing capital, with around 3,000 stremmata under cultivation and a share reaching 60-70% of total Greek garlic production in a normal year. The local variety stands out for its intense, spicy flavour and its 12-16 cloves per head, with a white colour and a light purple sheen. Every year the local Agricultural Cooperative holds a Garlic Festival, awarding the area's best producers, where visitors can follow the whole process from cultivation to processing. Evros even holds a Guinness World Record for the largest braided garlic string in the world.
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Evros Sesame & Tahini
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Fonias Beer
The beer is named after Fonias, Samothraki's most striking waterfall, since the water used to brew it comes from that very source - considered among the cleanest in Europe. The island's microbrewery began operating in 2016, after three years of preparation, using a recipe by Thanasis Apostolakou, and produces 100% handmade Pale Ale and IPA styles with hops from Thrace. Each batch runs to about 14,000 bottles over roughly 40 days of production - a small scale that keeps it a genuinely island-based, family-run venture.
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North Evros Saffron
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Evros Sausages
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A syrupy pastry roll of filo, velvety cream and a chocolate coating. It is not a genuinely native sweet: its roots trace back to Constantinople, where it is said to have been created around 100 years ago by a palace pastry chef in honour of Egypt's King Farouk, arriving in Thrace with refugees. In Alexandroupoli it took hold thanks to the old Doré patisserie, whose version was the finest in the city and introduced it to locals - since then it has become almost a local product, closely tied to the city for decades. (Moka Patisserie)
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