Platamon

Platamonas (Greek Πλαταμώνας ( m. sg ). Platamon Πλαταμών older also ) is a town with about 2,000 inhabitants and a town in the municipality Dion Olympos Olympos Anatolikos in the municipality in the south of Central Macedonia ) region.

In the Middle Ages and early modern times the place played mainly because of its Byzantine castle ( castrum ) play a role. The castle is located about 2 km north of the modern town at a strategic location and controlled by the passage of men and materials along the coast of the Thermaikos Gulf from the north ( for example, from Thessaloniki) to the south (eg, Larisa and Athens ) by the Tempi valley, whose northern exit is located about 10 kilometers south of Platamonas. The Frankish king of Thessalonica, Boniface of Montferrat I. built the fort in its present form in 1205 on the walls of a Byzantine fortress dating from the 6th - 10th Century. From 1389, the castle and the town came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. After the liberation of southern Greece and the port of Thessaly to the Kingdom of Greece in 1881, the castle became again important because it was on the Greek- Turkish border. With the conquest of the Greek region of Macedonia by Greece during the First Balkan War, the castle lost its strategic importance and was neglected. Meanwhile, it is used for theatrical exhibitions, music concerts and other cultural events.

Platamonas currently has tourist importance as a seaside resort, visited by 120,000 tourists annually. In Platamonas there are several campsites and numerous hotels and pensions. The beach connects pebbles and sand, of which the summit of Mount Olympus to see. For the clean beaches and the clean harbor Platamonas is 2002 and 2006, awarded the Blue Flag of the European Union.