Ιστορικές φωτο του Πόρτο Λάγο [Historic photos of Porto Lago]

[Nicholas Peppas]

Porto Lago (according to this postcard of the late 1950s somehow related to Komotini, although the latter was 28 km away!) was of course a port of call of one of the famous subsidized routes (agones grammes) of that period...

I sort of remember the schedule: Skyros, Aghios Eustratios, Lemnos, Samothraki, Alexandroupolis, Porto Lago, Thassos, Kavalla. Heroic days!!!

Ellinis, anybody? Do you have information on this route? Do you have the names of ships that were going all the way up north?

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[Ellinis]

Έκανα μια μίνι έρευνα και μέχρι στιγμής δεν έχω καταφέρει να βρω μεταπολεμικά δρομολόγια στο Πόρτο Λάγο, πλην ενός. Προπολεμικά προσεγγίζαν αρκετά καράβια όπως τα ΚΡΗΤΗ και ΘΑΣΟΣ της "Ακτοπλοϊας της Ελλάδος".
Όσο για το ενα μεταπολεμικό, ήταν το ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΑ, που εκανε γύρω στο 1989 τη γραμμή Πόρτο Ράφτη-Θάσο-Καβάλα-Πόρτο Λάγο.
Ο φίλος Roi Baudoin θα μας πεί περισσότερα μιας και ήταν αυτόπτης μάρτυρας !

[Nicholas Peppas]

Έκανα μια μίνι έρευνα και μέχρι στιγμής δεν έχω καταφέρει να βρω μεταπολεμικά δρομολόγια στο Πόρτο Λάγο, πλην ενός. Προπολεμικά προσεγγίζαν αρκετά καράβια όπως τα ΚΡΗΤΗ και ΘΑΣΟΣ της "Ακτοπλοϊας της Ελλάδος".
Όσο για το ενα μεταπολεμικό, ήταν το ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΑ, που εκανε γύρω στο 1989 τη γραμμή Πόρτο Ράφτη-Θάσο-Καβάλα-Πόρτο Λάγο.
Ο φίλος Roi Baudoin θα μας πεί περισσότερα μιας και ήταν αυτόπτης μάρτυρας !

It is Saturday morning, February 7, 2009 here. I just finished talking with a very good friend, Lefteris P., a chemical engineer as well, who lives in Wilmington, Delaware but was born and raised in Alexandroupolis. He has exceptional memories about this route and I am trying to convince him to register in nautilia.gr and give us all his memories...

So, he remembers taking the boat from Piraeus (not Kymi, not Rafina, etc) to Skyros, Lemnos, Alexandroupolis, Porto Lago, Kavalla and then back to Aghios Eustrations, Lemnos, Piraeus.

Until 1964, the ship doing this was Haralambos Typaldos' Ionion!!!

Ionion is one of the most graceful Greek ships and I will have a special article on it today. She is one of the Norwegian-Greek ships. Built in 1893 for Arendals, she was named Dronningen (queen in Norwegian) and graced the northern seas for many years. Here is a picture of her as a wonderful white ship

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According to Laurence Dunn's Mediterranean Shipping (page 73) she was acquired by Typaldos in 1948. She was 811 tons. Typaldos painted her black (Dunn has an exceptional photo).

Lefteris P. remembers this wonderful black ship very well as his grand father was the agent of the ship.... He remembers in the 1960s (he was a teenager) that he had to carry with him in his suitcase a suit and a bow tie for the dinner with the captain! Lefteris remembers the ship was withdrawn in 1964, which almost agrees with Dunn's statement that "she lasted over 60 years".

I will be talking about Ionion's history (with lots of pictures) but as aI said, she was a great Norwegian ship and she has been included in many sites. See http://www.ads.no/fleet_old.html (this site mentions scrapping in 1962)

Also http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/DS_%C2%ABDronningen%C2%BB

Dronningen (Ionion) in 1919

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Dronningen (Ionion) in 1929

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[Nicholas Peppas]

My friend Lefteris P told me also this morning that the family would often take Ionion from Alexandroupolis to Lemnos to visit his maternal grandmother. The return route was always Alexandroupolis-Porto Lago-Kavalla-Lemnos.

He says that when they were arriving in Porto Lago (early 60s), if the wind was strong and from the south, it was impossible to stop as "it was totally flat in the area" and there was no way to protect themselves during disembarcation. So, the captain would continue to ... Kavalla without stopping!

[Ellinis]

Νίκο, ο Λευτέρης Π. έχει απόλυτο δίκιο. Ένα καλύτερο ψάξιμο και στα δρομολόγια του 1954 και 1957 εμφανίζεται το Πόρτο Λάγο με το ΙΟΝΙΟΝ να το εξυπηρετεί.

[Ellinis]

Μετά και από άλλο ψάξιμο, βρήκα οτι ένα πλοίο που έκανε τη γραμμή της Πειραιά-...-Αλεξανδρούπολης-Πόρτο Λάγος-Καβάλα ήταν το ΗΛΙΟΥΠΟΛΙΣ (http://www.nautilia.gr/forum/showthread.php?t=25153&highlight=heliopolis)των Τυπάλδων.

[Nicholas Peppas]

Μετά και από άλλο ψάξιμο, βρήκα οτι ένα πλοίο που έκανε τη γραμμή της Πειραιά-...-Αλεξανδρούπολης-Πόρτο Λάγος-Καβάλα ήταν το ΗΛΙΟΥΠΟΛΙΣ (http://www.nautilia.gr/forum/showthread.php?t=25153&highlight=heliopolis)των Τυπάλδων.

I just checked it and you are absolutely right!!!! BTW, there are these two absolutely wonderful pictures of Helioupolis and Ionion in Dunn's Mediterranean Shipping but I do not know if we are allowed to scan them and place them here (copyright?) Think about it and act as you are an Administrator of this site.

N

[Nicholas Peppas]

A quiescent little corner in Porto Lago in 1961, when the tourists had not discovered it and the passenger ships were showing up once in a blue moon... But then the highways from Thessaloniki to Orestias became wider and faster while Olympiaki started flying all over the area... Who needs ships, right?...

This photograph is from the second volume of Leonidas Kouvaris' Nea Eikonografimeni Geografia Atlas tis Ellados (New Illustrated Geography and Atlas of Greece, Syropouloi bros and Koumandareas, publishers, Panepistimiou 44, Athens)

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[Nicholas Peppas]

Here is a small advertisement in Makedonia of May 12, 1923 announcing a run from Thessaloniki to Porto Lago by Dyo Filoi!

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Here is an article in Makedonia of November 19, 1932 discussing serious problems of the port of Porto Lago

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[Nicholas Peppas]

Σπανια καρτα σταλμενη απο το Πορτο Λαγος στην Στενημαχο (και οι δυο κωμοπολεις υπο Βουλγαρικην κατοχην − η δευτερη για παντα) απο τον Μαρτιο 1914.
Πηγη: http://www.balkanantiques.com/items/4da1024a_2.jpg

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[Ellinis]

Mια ενδιαφέρουσα εικόνα από το λιμάνι του Πόρτο Λάγο που ανέβηκε στην ομάδα Παλιές φωτογραφίες της Ξάνθης (https://www.facebook.com/groups/237817546256513/?ref=nf_target&fref=nf), όπου βλέπουμε το ατμόπλοιο ΕΛΠΙΣ που είχε ναυπηγηθεί το 1919 και ανήκε από το 1935 στους Πρίντεζη & Αναστασίου.
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Ανήκε στην τυχερή μειοψηφία των πλοίων μας που δεν βυθίστηκαν στον πόλεμο και συνέχισε να ταξιδεύει μέχρι το 1962 που διαλύθηκε σε ηλικία 43 ετών. Η ταυτοποίηση προέκυψε συγκρίνοντας με την παρακάτω φωτογραφία του πλοίου στο βιβλίο Coasters: An illustrated history:
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