Marasia

The village of Marasia at the northeast borders of Greece is bordering with the Evros River in the north and the Ardas River in the south. Opposite Marasia, is located the village of Kastanies, with a concrete walkway that passes through Ardas joining the two villages during the summer months (the normal crossing from one side to the other is by the national road that passes just outside Marasia).

Marasia is one of the oldest villages in the area and it is mentioned in Waqf documents from the 15th century. In a document of 1528, it is reported that the village Meras or Maras, current Marasia, had a Christian population.

Marasia is known mostly for the “Lady of Marasia”, Vasiliki Lampidis, who lived there from 1962 to 2011 and died at the age of 107. For more than 50 years, she was daily hoisting the Greek flag in the yard of her house, which was the last of the settlement, while the soldiers serving in the region were talking about her gentle heart.

The woman – symbol of Akrites was born in Megalo Zaloufi of Eastern Thrace and came to the village with the population exchange in 1923 as a refugee. For her contribution to the country the lady of Marasia had been honored in 2007 by the Academy of Athens. Today in her backyard has been placed her bust, a few meters from the Greek-Turkish borders.