Ormenio

Ormenio is the northernmost inhabited region of Greece at a distance of 156 kilometers from Alexandroupolis. Ormenio, with its customs office marks the passing to Bulgaria, within 3 kilometers. It is built at an altitude of 60 meters and its population is 550 inhabitants. The village celebrates on April, 23, on the feast of Saint George, when is organized a big festival.

Ormenio was an important town during the Byzantine period when it was called Tzermianou. It is the old Tsirmen, where in Sept. 26, 1371, took place the Battle of Evros between the united Christian nations (Serbians, Bulgarians and Greeks) and the Ottoman army. The victory of the Turks sealed the fate of the Byzantine Empire and it has been characterized by the historians as the most important Ottoman victory before 1453.

In Ormenio was born the greatest general of Byzantium, Belisarius, in 500 AD. He was a commander of the Emperor Justinian and in 532 AD he suppressed the Nika revolt.

On a hill of Ormenio near Evros, there are remains of a Byzantine fortress, which stood on the edge of a hill overlooking the valley.

In 1921, in Ormenio settled refugees from Bulgaria. It acquired its current name in 1934 from the naming committee, under George Lempousiadis.