Ouranoupoli

The modern village takes its name from Uranopolis, the "city of heaven", founded in the late 4th century BC by Alexarchus, the brother of King Cassander of Macedon, on the ruins of ancient Sane, which Philip II had destroyed. Its coins show the goddess Urania, and the city was later destroyed by an earthquake. The land belonged to the monastery of Vatopedi as a dependent estate, and in the Byzantine era a tall tower, the Prosforion, was built to guard it; nearby, the monastery of Zygou was abandoned at the end of the 12th century and occupied by Crusaders in the early 1200s.

In 1922 the Greek government took the area from the monastery to house refugees from the population exchange with Turkey. About fifty families from Asia Minor arrived under the auspices of the League of Nations, each given a small house, a plot of arid land and ten sheep, and they set up rug-weaving workshops. From 1928 the tower was the home of the writers Sydney and Joice Loch, who ran a carpet enterprise employing many villagers and made the tower a meeting place for monks and travellers on their way to and from Athos.

Without a road, the village stayed isolated until 1947, when residents cut a dirt track by hand and the first tourists followed. It took its present name around 1960 and grew from then on as a resort and as the gateway to the Holy Mountain.

Ouranoupoli lives in the shadow of Mount Athos, the self-governing monastic community whose territory begins just beyond the village. By Greek law and religious tradition women may not enter it, so the village is both a last stop for male pilgrims and a place where women travelling with them stay; the sightseeing boats that keep 500 metres offshore are the only way for women to see the monasteries. Most of the souvenirs sold in the village are religious.

The refugee founders of 1922 brought their crafts, and rug weaving became the village's trade, encouraged by the Lochs from their tower. The tower itself now holds an exhibition on Christian Halkidiki. The parish church is dedicated to Saints Constantine and Helen, and an active cultural association organises the Ouranopolitika events in July and full-moon nights in August.

Because of its isolation at the end of the road, the village has not been swept up by mass tourism, and the visitors it receives — pilgrims, cruise passengers and families on holiday — give it an unusual mix of the devout and the relaxed.

About 800 people lived in Ouranoupoli at the 2011 census, working mainly in tourism and fishing. It is a local community of the Aristotelis municipality, whose seat is 17 km away, and it has a kindergarten, a primary school and a police station. Life is still shaped by the village's origins: many families descend from the refugees of 1922, and the land itself once belonged to the monasteries across the border.

Trade and pilgrimage connected to Mount Athos are the biggest source of income. Pilgrims usually spend a night in the village, present their diamonitirion at the pilgrims' office beside the main pier and board the ferries to Dafni, which run throughout the year. In summer cruise boats, beach visitors and day-trippers from the rest of Halkidiki swell the population.

Restaurants along the main road and the beach serve meals, but the village goes to bed early, with few places open late.

Eating in Ouranoupoli means tavernas on the main road, by the beach and around the harbour, where fish is an obvious choice. With fishing one of the two mainstays of local life, the catch of the Singitic Gulf shapes the menus.

Halkidiki as a whole is known for its green olives and its honey, and both turn up on tables and in shops here. The monks of Athos make wine as well, and the religious shops of the village sit alongside those selling local produce. Tsipouro, the grape spirit of northern Greece, is drunk with meze.

Meals follow the Greek pattern of shared plates, salads, grilled fish and meat, and the restaurants cater to a mixed crowd of pilgrims, Greek families and international visitors, with English and Russian commonly spoken. Most places close relatively early, in step with the rhythm of a village whose day is set by the ferries to the Holy Mountain.